Maiden Of Stone
by RySenkari
Summary: [Life And Times of Red X sequel] After a few months off, Red X decides to resume his life as a thief, and immediately stumbles on a sinister plan by a group of powerbrokers. This plan has one MAJOR component... involving a certain long lost sixth Titan.
1. Once A Thief

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Teen Titans. If I did, this would be on TV and not here.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This doesn't take place in the same storyline as my "Forced Base" and "Fractured Heart" stories, so forget those when you're reading this. Also, about Sanza/Red X: When he's wearing the mask, he's Red X. When he's not, he's Sanza. Simple as that.

SECOND AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a sequel to "The Life and Times of Red X", which is in my profile. Read that before you read this. Also, this fic COMPLETELY IGNORES the events of the fifth season (with the exception of "Go"). For the purposes of this fic, "Things Change" NEVER HAPPENED.

O-O-O

It had been exactly one year since Sanza Salazar had stolen the Red X suit from Titans Tower. One year since the most eventful, interesting, and dangerous chapter in Sanza's life had begun. And now, the young, Hispanic 17-year-old, dressed in blue jeans, a pair of white socks and nothing else, sat on the foot of his bed and stared down at his lap, where he was twiddling his thumbs and thinking to himself, 'why the hell did I _ever _take that suit?'.

The suit in question was lying in a large white box underneath Sanza's bed. It had been there for the past five months, out of sight save for a few hours one cold February morning when Sanza had removed one of the gloves from the box in order to repair a large hole in the material, caused when Sanza had detonated an X bomb right in the middle of his palm.

He hadn't put on the suit since that day several months ago, hadn't even wanted to see it. He'd failed his duty to his family, he'd failed his mother, his sister, and his deceased father, to whom he'd _promised _from the bottom of his heart that he would protect those he held dear.

But every few days, something would stir inside of Sanza. Not the urge to protect his family... that urge was with him every second of every day, whenever he looked over his shoulder for any sign of the terrible criminal Slade, who Sanza had had the chance to kill but had selfishly passed it up in order to save his _own _life. Sanza hadn't seen Slade in the past few months either, but that didn't excuse Sanza from being vigilant... as long as Slade was alive and still wanted Red X as an apprentice, his family would always be in danger.

But that wasn't the urge stirring within Sanza... it was the urge do to something that had become almost synonymous with the Red X suit, and the legacy of the criminal who wore it. Sanza wanted to steal, _needed _to steal... to feel the adrenaline rush of sneaking into a well-guarded building and taking some valuable item that didn't belong to him. He wanted the danger, the notoriety... and despite the trouble that always seemed to follow whenever Sanza got one of those criminal urges, he still craved that surge of adrenaline... which he hadn't been able to receive in the five months since he'd last donned the suit.

The suit was _right there_, right under the bed on which Sanza was sitting. It would be so easy to put it on, run down the fire escape and dash downtown to one of the many office buildings that formed the Jump City skyline. A computer, a new piece of technology... hell, even a pencil and some staples from a file cabinet, it wouldn't matter. Sanza needed that rush... he needed to steal.

He could almost hear the suit calling to him... _put me on, Sanza. Put me on and go steal... doesn't matter if the cops show up, or the Teen Titans. You WANT the Titans to show up... remember Starfire? Remember how wonderful she made you feel? Remember that feeling she gave you in your pants?_

"God dammit," whispered Sanza to himself, slowly shaking his head. "I can't keep thinking about this... I have a _girlfriend _now..."

Remembering Cleo, which temporarily crowded all the lewd thoughts of Starfire from his mind, Sanza walked over to his dresser and pulled out the first thing he could find, a plain black t-shirt. He put on the shirt and left the room, walking down a narrow hallway toward a set of wooden stairs, which he descended rather quickly on route to the living room.

Inside the living room, peacefully watching 'Wheel of Fortune', was a 12-year-old girl with long, wavy black hair, perfectly accenting her tanned skin. She wore a simple white tanktop over a denim skirt that went down to just below her knees, which were poking outward because her legs were crossed beneath her as she sat on the floor.

"Maddy...?" asked Sanza, glancing briefly over the rest of the living room and noticing that the recliner facing the television was empty. "Where's-"

"Mommy's working late," Maddy replied, shooting a quick glance and a smile at Sanza. For a girl who had been through so much, Maddy was a remarkably happy child... she'd bounced back almost immediately from an event that would certainly traumatize most children her age, the abduction of her and her mother by the terrible villain Slade. Sanza still felt guilty about that event, knowing that it was his duplicity as Red X that had placed his mother and sister in such a perilous situation. Neither of them knew about Sanza's secret, and he currently preferred to keep it that way. "Wanna watch the Wheel with me?"

_"I hate the Wheel..." _thought Sanza to himself, but he found himself moseying over to the small recliner and sitting down anyway, staring at the screen. The three contestants were having trouble with the phrase " KE TK NY R Y", and as one of them spun the large, colorful wheel, Maddy blurted out the answer.

"It's 'like taking candy from a baby', and they're all retarded for not knowing it," Maddy said, half to herself and half to her brother. Sanza, who honestly had no idea what the answer was, was in shock that Maddy had gotten it so quickly. She certainly was an intelligent girl, but filling in all those words so quickly... she must've had practice.

"...that was fast," replied Sanza. "How did you-"

"I dunno. Like I said, they should get it faster, but then there wouldn't be much of a show, now would there?" Maddy said, her head turning slightly to face Sanza. "And also, the more letters they get, the more money they-"

"I know how the game works," Sanza muttered, standing up and exiting the room. He could only put up with his sister for so long before something else, in this case his urge to steal one again returning, distracted him and forced him away from her. "See you in a bit."

"Sure thing," said Maddy, her attention returning to the screen. "Bye bye, Sanza."

Sanza quickly made his way back up to his bedroom and knelt down beside his bed, multiple competing thoughts racing through his mind.

_"If I do this... if I put on the suit and go stealing again, Slade will..." _the risk to his family's life was obviously there, not to mention the risk to his own should he do battle with the Titans again. Every day on the news it seemed like the Titans were battling more and more villains... they were _everywhere_. And they'd probably already forgotten that they and Sanza had, at least for a few brief days, been comrades in arms. _"The more I keep thinking about this, the more I want to..."_

Slowly, Sanza pulled out the box from its place underneath his bed. Inside, Sanza knew, was the very costume that had given him so much trouble... had put his family in so much danger... and yet, at the same time, had given Sanza more thrills than any other thing he'd ever done in his life. Robbing someone was like riding a thousand roller coasters at the same time... and even fighting the Titans could, at times, be entertaining.

Sanza opened the box, sliding the cover back under his bed and taking a long look at the folded up black and red mass of latex and fabric. Somewhere inside all that material was the Xynothium reactor... still working, still pumping out a limitless supply of the miracle polymer to fuel the suit's many weapons.

He no longer stole because he had to... he stole because he _wanted _to.

And now, as he slowly pulled out the suit, he could feel all that adrenaline, the excitement, the danger, all of it flooding back... he removed his blue jeans and slowly began sliding on the costume, felt its cool touch on the skin of his legs, then, as he pulled up the top of the costume and slowly stretched it across his chest and arms, covering up the black t-shirt he was wearing, he could again feel all the power... and the chance to use this power to do whatever he wanted.

He pulled on the gloves, including his recently repaired right glove, and flexed his fingers... the gloves fit perfectly. Once designed for the hands of Robin, and Robin alone, they attached to Sanza's hands like a second skin, and again he was thankful for having been blessed with the Boy Wonder's almost-exact dimensions.

_"If only I had his skills..." _thought Sanza, reaching into the box and pulling out the last component of the Red X costume... the mask, its skull-like face seemingly staring straight into his own. _"He probably knows fifty different kinds of martial arts... I'm just a lousy fourth-degree blackbelt in regular old karate."_

It was this deficiency in formal martial-arts training that made Sanza wary of another encounter with Slade... and made him wonder, time and time again, if he was even worthy of this suit. If he could bear the burden of protecting his family... the last time he'd worn the suit, this question brought him to tears.

But now it wasn't about protecting his family... for Sanza, he was becoming Red X again for _his _needs. Selfish, yes... but as Sanza slowly put on the mask, and the mentality of the master thief once again began to set in... it became all too clear.

_"Of course I'm selfish. I'm Red X."_

O-O-O

And about a half-hour later, after zipping down the fire escape and dashing his way down several long streets, Red X found himself face-to-face with the many high-rise towers of downtown Jump City... offices galore, holding valuable secrets and relics of corporate affluence for the infamous thief to pilfer. Crouching down in an alleyway, X recalled to himself a recent news story of an especially interesting item...

A quantum computer, manufactured by Pinnacle Industries, the company that owned the top seventeen floors of the 58-story Mycoso Building, a rectangular tower just a block or two away from X's current location. The highly powerful computer was reported to be just a prototype, but X knew that such a device could be worth billions to its company... or to any thief daring enough to attempt stealing it. He peered out of the alley and saw the building, most of its lights dimmed, unlike the other surrounding offices, which were still filled with workers still cranking away at the late hour of eight o'clock at night.

_"The situation is perfect," _thought Red X, his eyes traveling from the building to the nearby parking garage, which provided a direct subwalk to the building on its lower level. _"Won't even have to go in the front door. This is going to be _too _easy." _

And with that self-assurance in mind, Red X quickly dashed to the parking garage, darting from shadow to shadow in order to avoid the glares of pedestrians making their way to downtown Jump City's various nightclubs and shopping centers. The job would certainly be easier if X could still use his teleporter, but the Xynothium reactor now fueling his suit didn't provide a pure enough product to power the device, the most energy-intensive of the suit's many, many weapons and gadgets. Still, in some way, the lack of a teleportation device made X's thievery much more challenging... and certainly more exciting.

X made it to the parking garage without incident, and from there it was a short jog to the subwalk and to the Mycoso Building's first elevator. Once inside the elevator shaft, the entire building was accessible to Red X... it was simply a matter of climbing the cable and creating an opening to the right room.

_"If I remember how to do this..." _thought Red X to himself, forming an X in his right hand and affixing it to the metallic roof of the elevator. The X quickly expanded and dissolved, creating a hole that was just large enough for Red X to slip through. Once he'd emerged on top of the elevator, the hole sealed itself back up and created a platform from which Red X could begin his ascent of the cable. _"Well, whatd'ya know... I _do _remember."_

O-O-O

The computer itself, or at least the prototype, sat in a room on the 57th floor of the building, the penultimate story. Inside the room, which was protected by a legion of lasers, guards, gates, and pre-programmed codes that only a few scientists and executives knew, sat a small, wooden table, on which a sealed test tube had been placed. Inside the tube was a clear, viscous liquid... the product of years of genetic tinkering and testing to produce a product known as the quantum computer, which used the same process employed by the human brain itself to make hundreds of trillions, if not quadrillions of complex calculations in a single second. Electrodes sticking into the tube connected it to wires leading up to a twenty-inch flat screen, which served as the monitor of the computer. A keyboard, complete with touchpad, was mounted on a podium sitting several feet away from the screen.

It was not this room that Red X found himself in once he finally decided to exit the elevator shaft. He'd chosen the right floor, but had entered a room some distance away... a sealed storage room that housed only a few file cabinets and a large stack of computer paper. However, after a few minutes of leafing through the file cabinets, Red X _did _find out what room he needed to be in, and, using another X to create a portal to the hallway, rejoiced in the fact that after a short trip down the hall and a couple of left turns, he'd be just a few hacked keypads and disabled guards away from the quantum computer.

The hallways were lit only by a dim blue light emanated from the halogen lights mounted in the ceiling. During the day, when employees were milling about, these lights, like the lights in the rest of the building, would be glowing a bright, illuminating white. The blue glow was there simply to allow any security guards to have a better view of any thieves who might come to steal from the building, or perhaps a terrorist coming to plant a bomb.

Tonight, it was a thief... but the guards were still patrolling the rest of the floor, giving Red X an easy walk down the long hallways and corridors leading to the treasure which lay elsewhere on the floor. As he made his second right turn, the adrenaline once again began to flow within his body... his gloved hands began to tingle, and a smile slowly crept in underneath his mask.

"One more hallway to go..." X said to himself, already able to see the large, lobby-like room ahead that contained a single, glass door at the end. This was the first keycode-protected door leading to the Advanced Research and Development wing of the building, and somewhere inside that wing was the most valuable prototype in the history of information technology. "I'll never get an F on another project again..."

But as soon as he set foot inside the lobby, an alarm began to sound... and the dim, blue light illuminating the room quickly faded into a bright red. With a loud sigh, Red X extended his wrist blades and prepared for a fight.

"Some things never change," X muttered to himself, taking a few steps into the large room and slowly turning to face the hallway from which he came. But as the seconds went by, and no guards appeared, the thief began to wonder if maybe someone _else _inside the building had caused the alarm... maybe he was in the clear.

That thought quickly faded when a loud, mechanical sliding sound emanated from the ceiling above Red X's head. He turned once more and looked straight up... and could see the ceiling slowly going away, its left half retracting into the left wall of the lobby, its right half retracting to the right.

"...never seen _that _before," said Red X, slowly stepping back, his wrist blades still extended and in prime position. Suddenly, something large dropped from the ceiling, right in front of the glass door at the end of the room. The mechanical beast that had suddenly emerged in front of X took the shape of a scorpion, measuring ten feet wide and filling nearly the entire back half of the lobby. Its long, barbed tail extended above its head, probably eleven feet in the air. The tip of the tail gave off a menacing silver glow in the red light bathing the room, with the rest of the robot covered in a mixture of orange and red. Its eight legs skittered about as it began its slow, pounding walk toward Red X, shaking the room with every step it made. Its armored skeleton opened up to reveal two small, metallic guns... pointed right at the intruder. "Okay, somebody REALLY doesn't want me here."

Instead of running, Red X ran right at the robot, ducking and allowing the two blue beams of light that it fired from its cannons to pass just by him and create a small explosion from the ground where he had just been standing. X leapt into the air, slicing both blades directly at the scorpion's well-exposed head. The blades impacted the metal, creating two small dents in its surface. Before X could strike again, the tail of the scorpion robot came straight toward him, its tip propelled by the tail's flexible metal, which allowed the tail to stretch like a spring and accelerate its titanium tip to lethal velocities. The tip just barely missed X's arm, and acting on instinct, X grabbed the base of the tail's tip, in an extent to rip off the barbed end and substantially decrease the threat that the tail posed. Almost instantly, the robot flung its tail back, and the momentum sent Red X flying backward, his body slamming hard into the glass door that he'd intended to break into in the first place. The strong glass did not break in the force of the impact, and as X slumped against the door, the robot leapt forward and spun around in one great motion, landing hard on the floor at the front of the lobby and once more shaking the large room. Now, X was trapped between the entrance to the Research wing and the four-ton mechanical monster now blocking his only escape route.

"You know," Red X said confidently, as the palms of his hands began to glow with stored Xynothium energy, "one usually tries to keep thieves OUT instead of in... leave it to a big dumb bug to completely screw up."

After firing a barrage of exploding Xs at the robot, X turned to the keypad and placed a sticky X right over the keys. The X reacted with the electronic components of the keypad, quickly determining the correct sequence and inputting it into the computer. Within seconds, the glass doors slowly opened, and X was on the way to his objective.

If only it was that easy. Before he could even take his first step through the doors, a sharp barb slammed into the back of his left leg, piercing the skin and causing the thief to let out a painful scream. X quickly turned around, only to see the tip of the scorpion's tail heading straight for his chest. Thinking quickly, he fired an X at the tail's tip, which, as soon as it was pierced, caused a huge amount of red goo to explode outward, covering the scorpion's tail completely and showering the rest of the mechanical beast with a healthy coating of sticky Xynothium.

_"That really hurt..." _thought X, limping slightly on his wounded left leg as he ran toward the temporarily disabled robot and leapt right onto its head. Taking another X, he affixed it to the top of the robot's head and then leapt off again, just as the robot emitted a white mist that completely dissolved all the goo that X had covered it with. As it raised its tail to strike again, its head began to spark... then, the rest of the robot, whose tail lifted up and, instead of trying to impale Red X, began stabbing its main body repeatedly, first piercing the head, and then the long, mechanical torso. X simply watched the display, chuckling slightly and backing up through the glass door he'd just hacked into. "As I once said to my sister on the playground... stop hitting yourself!"

After a few seconds, the robot _did _stop hitting itself... after giving off several large bursts of sparks, it collapsed in a smoking heap, its tail having inflicted many, many wounds in the scorpion robot's once shining frame. As soon as the robot was out of commission, Red X made his way past several desks and to another door, this time metal instead of glass. This door had both a keypad and a keycard slot, requiring both a password and positive identification for entry. Again, however, breaking into this door would be no major challenge for Red X, who simply covered both the keypad and the card slot with another X and let technology do the rest. The door slid open, and the thief casually strode past the threshold and into another long hallway... knowing that only a few more layers of security stood between him and the quantum computer.

The fight with the robotic scorpion just a few minutes earlier had invigorated Red X... he'd built up a healthy layer of sweat under the mask covering his face, and the flesh wound to his left leg would give him another battle scar, just like the one that he bore from the fight with Robin, so long ago.

As he walked down the hallway and passed the empty offices of several brilliant scientists, X began to recall the events of those frantic days, the days when the Titans finally discovered his identity, the days when Slade became such a terrible part of his life. Those days had nearly put an end to his thievery career... but now, facing a doorway guarded by several bright red laser beams, restricting access to all but a few select people who were privileged with the job of servicing and operating the quantum computer that lay within, X knew that he was about to return to his shady world of stealing with by far the biggest heist of his entire life.

Once again, Red X would be a household name.

"STOP RIGHT THERE!" a loud, booming, male voice called out, accompanied by the sound of numerous pistols being drawn from their holsters. Red X turned around... and saw nearly three dozen men, the finest rent-a-cops that the world of corporate security had to offer, charging straight down the hallway and pointing automatic pistols straight at the brash young thief. There were too many... Red X knew he couldn't take them all.

_"Dammit... should've closed the doors behind me... must've gotten so excited that I forgot..." _of course, it was too late for Red X to worry about that now. His only way out was in... in through the laser guarded door that stood right in front of them. He had a problem though... security like this took several minutes to crack, even for Red X... and as soon as he turned around, he could feel hot lead graze across his shoulder... one of the security guards had fired their weapon. Whether it was a warning shot or a deliberate attempt to bring X down, the thief didn't know... but what he did know was that it was by far the closest he'd ever come to actually having been shot. Guns had killed his father, and now, as a droplet of blood began trickling from the slight tear the bullet had made in the Red X suit, X's adrenaline rush became a surge of fear... and fight turned to flight. _"I have to go. NOW."_

Thinking quickly, the thief fired an X that created a hole in the ceiling, and quickly leapt up through the hole, hearing gunshots below as the hole sealed up. Red X was now on the 58th story, the top floor of the Mycoso Building... and again he heard alarms begin to blare. Now standing in the middle of someone's office, Red X could hear more security guards rushing down a nearby hallway, and knew that the office he was in would soon be flooded. He leapt onto a desk and ripped open a metal grate in the wall, crawling through and making his way into the building's ventilation system. From there, all he would have to do is find the elevator and escape the building, probably through the subwalk and parking garage from which he'd entered the building in the first place.

_"I almost wish the Titans _had _shown up," _thought Red X, as fighting them was certainly a lot more fun than dealing with a bunch of security guards... who had guns and, as they had displayed earlier, were _not _afraid to use them. He crawled through the ventilation shafts for several minutes, searching for the one that would lead him to an elevator. He would know that he was getting close when he heard the familiar mechanical sounds of an elevator starting and stopping, and would then know to tunnel down into the closest elevator he found. But instead of hearing those mechanical sounds, he began to hear voices... several voices, coming from just below where he was crawling. He noticed a faint white light from a tunnel just ahead, and crawled over to listen to exactly what the men below were saying. _"I wonder if they're talking about me..."_

O-O-O

In a 58th-floor conference room, a meeting was taking place... a meeting attended by six individuals, five of them seated at comfortable leather chairs around a long, wooden table, while one of the men in the room chose to stand, to the right side of the man seated at the head of the table. The man at the head of the table was Frederick Dullahan, the CEO of Pinnacle Industries and perhaps the most shrewd businessman in Jump City. Having established his company in nearby Silicon Valley in the late-70s, Dullahan moved to Jump City in order to start his corporate empire, with his line of powerful computer hardware forming the basis for his burgeoning information technology company. To his right was his bodyguard, Sedaris, a tall, imposing figure, his muscles concealed by the business suit that he wore to all of his employer's important meetings.

"Gentlemen, I have demonstrated for you the capabilities of the quantum computer... but let me be the first to say that it is not the most important thing that we are going to discuss tonight," said Dullahan, his graying, well-combed hair perfectly complimenting his steely, wide-eyed face and large, prominent chin. At 57, he looked slightly young for his age, though his wrinkled brow clearly demonstrated that his years were beginning to catch up to him. Seated on the left side of the table, however, was a man clearly showing his 55 years, with balding head and thick glasses mounted on a crooked, pale nose. He was seated next to his son, a brash, 27-year-old who'd just received his MBA and was frequently seen with his businessman father, learning everything he could from one of the most powerful men in Jump City. The balding 55-year-old began to speak, a nervous twitch in his voice.

"Do... do you mean the intruder they found on the 57th floor?" asked Nicholas Jarvin, one of Dullahan's closest friends and long-time business associates, though Jarvin did not work with Pinnacle, but with LaredoSoft, a weapons technology firm that frequently provided software for the military's powerful new war machines. The young man next to Jarvin, his son Lonnie, just gave a snort and shook his head.

"Dad, you felt the shaking a few minutes ago, right? That scorpion thing you designed certainly took out whoever it was that tried to get in. Besides, he wasn't even _on _this floor."

Watching and listening to the meeting through the open grate in the ceiling, Red X silently listened as the men spoke, hoping that as they discussed him they wouldn't somehow detect his invisible presence. _"Maybe I should just keep trying to find the elevator..."_

"Intruder or not, I've asked Dr. Ruell to explain the specifics of this next item of business... if you'll just look at the screen behind me, the doctor will explain the images to you as they appear. Doctor?"

As soon as Dullahan finished, one of the men seated at the right side of the table began to speak. On the screen appeared a large, yellow gem, resembling a chunk of quartz... the gem appeared to be flawless, shining as it slowly rotated in the image.

"This, gentlemen, is the Crisis Crystal," stated Dr. Ruell. The oldest of the men in the room, he was short and stout, his head beset with messy clumps of tangled, white hair. His wrinkled, clean-shaven face was adorned with a small set of spectacles, perched on his nose, their gold rims shining in the light of the room. He also was the only man in the room not wearing a business suit... instead, he wore a white lab coat and a pair of brown pants which bore several small rips in the fabric. He continued. "On a recent dig by a group of researchers in South Africa, it was found buried among a group of fossils. It was immediately placed on a ship and sent back to the United States for study... that's when its unique and quite interesting properties were soon discovered."

The image switched to a large, supertanker ship. Approaching the ship was an enormous wave of water... a rogue wave, more than a hundred feet high.

"En route to the States, a rogue wave approached the ship... it would have almost certainly capsized the ship and killed its entire crew... but just before reaching the ship, the wave seemed to stop, right in its tracks... hovering in place, the water completely stopped. Something stopped that water... and as the crew members marveled at the sight, a scientist who was handling the crystal lifted it up in the air. The wave then rose up, nearly three hundred feet. When the man lowered the crystal, the wave dropped to its original height... and when the man placed the crystal on the ground, the wave completely vanished."

"Are you saying..." interrupted the elder Jarvin, looking straight into Dr. Ruell's eyes, "that the presence of that yellow rock... completely stopped the wave?"

"I'm saying," Ruell continued, changing the image on the screen, "that that yellow rock has a great power over the natural forces of the earth. Case in point... recall the massive tornado outbreak that occurred in Texas last December. LAST DECEMBER. Gentlemen, tornadoes _rarely _occur in December, at least in Tornado Alley. It seems, that while the crystal was on display at Texas Tech University, that students managed to sneak in and take the crystal, right before Winter Break. One of the students returned to his home in Dallas... which, as all of you will recall, was completely ripped apart in the next few days by the largest tornado ever witnessed on the planet Earth."

"And that's not a complete coincidence... why?" asked the younger Jarvin, his elbows now resting on the long, wooden table. "Weird stuff happens all the time, you don't think-"

"Later," continued Ruell, "when rescue workers discovered the crystal in the wreckage of a home, they returned it to the Smithsonian for analysis. In January, a massive 7.1 earthquake struck the Washington D.C. area... the White House was only slightly damaged, but the event still made national news for quite some time. Wherever this crystal goes, gentlemen, disaster happens... and now, it's on a ship headed for Jump City."

"That ship is owned by my company," said the sixth man at the table, occupying the seat next to Dr. Ruell. He was a man in his early-40s, with a head of short, dark brown hair and a casual smile on his face. "Barrington Shipping is bringing the rock into port two days from now."

"From there," said Dullahan, "I will have a group of my security detail retrieve the crystal and bring it to Dr. Ruell's laboratory."

Jarvin and his son, the only two men who had no previous knowledge of any aspect of this plan, were both a bit nervous... and rightfully so.

"And exactly what do you plan to do with the crystal once you have it?" queried the elder Jarvin. "You heard Dr. Ruell... anywhere the crystal goes, disaster follows. That's why they call it the _Crisis _Crystal. If you try to keep it here-"

"Dr. Ruell has determined that the crystal has the power to both control and reverse the natural processes of the Earth. Unfocused, its power is certainly quite dangerous... but if the power had some interface, some way to perhaps limit and control this power," said Dullahan, now reaching the main point of his plan. Before he could, however, the younger Jarvin's quick wit cut him off at the pass.

"Some way like a quantum computer!"

"Exactly," Ruell replied. "I can device a way to interface the crystal's power with the newly-developed quantum computer prototype. However, once focused, the crystal's power will be weakened... it cannot be used to cause disasters, rather, it can exhibit the properties first demonstrated with the containment of the rogue wave. It can _reverse _natural processes... and then control them. And gentlemen, therein _does _lie a way to cause natural disasters."

The image on the screen again switched... and this time, instead of displaying images of natural disasters, it displayed a person... or rather, a statue. A face and a body forever frozen in stone, eternally staring out into the sky.

"Terra, a girl with the power to cause earthquakes and volcanoes, forever fused into the very earth she once controlled. Now, say that this fusion process can be reversed... and the crystal can be interfaced with her rather than with the quantum computer."

A sly smile crossed Ruell's face... and the nervousness once expressed in the voice of the father and son Jarvin began slowly ebbing away.

"With the crystal, we'll be able to control this girl, and you gentlemen should already know of the damage she's capable of causing," said Dullahan, referring back to those days ten months previous when Terra had caused a volcanic eruption that nearly leveled the city... an eruption she gave her very life to stop. "And this time, we'll do what she almost did... we'll destroy Jump City. Obviously, the damage will be pinned on the girl... and once the rebuilding effort begins, I'll contribute my computers to the coordination of the city's recovery... netting a gigantic profit in the process. Gentlemen, once this plan has come to fruition, we'll be _trillionaires_... and with the girl still under our control, we'll be able to level any city in the country and repeat the process, over and over again."

"Not just the country," replied Jarvin, rubbing his wrinkled hands together, "but any city in the _world!_"

By now, Red X had heard enough. He'd come to steal a computer... and had overheard perhaps the most diabolical evil scheme he'd ever had the displeasure of listening to. It was a plan worthy of Slade... but whether or not it would work wasn't Red X's concern. He'd _definitely _meet a tragic end if discovered now, and without a moment to lose, made his way through the vents and to the elevator shaft, heading back down to the ground floor, the subwalk, the parking garage, and then back to the streets... after a _completely _unsuccessful heist, he was heading back home.

_"Crisis Crystal... natural disasters..." _The plan _did _give Red X cause to worry as he ran down the streets leading back to his home... but he knew that the Teen Titans would take care of it if it got too terrible. _"I'm Red X, I don't play the hero. I play the thief... and I'm not even sure I'm even good at that anymore."_

He was going home empty-handed... the Titans hadn't even been there to stop him, and he was STILL leaving the tower with nothing to show for it. Nothing but the experience... his leg still tingled slightly from the wound that the scorpion robot's tail had dealt him... he'd probably have to gauze it up when he got home.

It was something else, not the failure at thievery, that bothered him as he made his way back to his neighborhood. Leaving the corporate offices of downtown Jump City for the friendly confines of dark streets and old apartment buildings, one element of the meeting he'd listening into kept leaping out at him.

_"Reviving Terra... they want to revive Terra..." _The girl X had heard about when he'd teamed up with the Titans... especially from Beast Boy, who'd even taken him out to see the stone girl, forever frozen in a haunting scream of anguish. Terra... a Teen Titan, a true friend. He still remembered the plaque, lovingly posted below the girl's stone body.

A pang of guilt shot through Red X. The Titans had done so much for him... they'd saved his mother and sister's lives, and had tried to help him get rid of Slade... even after all he'd done to them in the past, they were still able to put their differences with X aside and work toward a common goal.

X remembered that Beast Boy's voice trembled as he spoke of Terra... and his eyes, at times, began to show signs of tearing up... Beast Boy had _loved _Terra, and would probably want to know if _anyone _had plans to bring her back... especially for something as diabolical as a plot to destroy Jump City.

Red X had stopped running, he'd stopped on the sidewalk, right under a streetlight. He was still a few blocks away from his house, but now, as he stopped to think about the Titans, about Beast Boy and about Terra, another urge crept into him... not the urge to protect his family, or the urge to steal, but...

_"...my conscience," _thought Red X, silently cursing his own heart. _"Why does it feel like God is telling me to... to..."_

The conflict played out in X's mind repeatedly. Should he go home and forget the whole thing, or should he... should he tell the Titans that someone was trying to bring back Terra?

_Certainly _they would find out eventually... but by then, it would be too late. Two days, that's what one of the men said... two days until the crystal would find its way into the hands of those evil powerbrokers.

Red X had a very important decision to make.

O-O-O

It was a peaceful night inside Titans Tower. While Robin and Cyborg trained together in the battle simulator, Beast Boy was busily preparing a batch of cookies in the tower's kitchen... with chips make from soy extract rather than chocolate. Raven was up in her room, most likely meditating, while Starfire had parked herself on the couch and was enjoying a quiet night of television.

The Titans hadn't gotten the memo about Red X's recent thievery, because the Mycoso Building hadn't sent one. They'd chosen to handle the matter on their own, and considering that their security team had successfully gotten X out of the building, they'd made the correct decision. Because no other villains were currently attacking the city, the Teen Titans could just enjoy their night in the comforts of their home.

"Ahhh... smell these cookies, I bet they're gonna be so great!" commented Beast Boy as he emerged from the kitchen area, a tray of twenty cookies in his oven-mitted hands. Starfire sniffed the air and gave a quiet "mmmmm...", but did not turn her head away from the television as Beast Boy scooped the cookies into a pile on a glass plate and carried them into the main room. He set the plate down on the table in front of Starfire, but before he sat down, he remembered something. "Oh yeah, you know what goes great with soy cookies? Soy milk! I'll be right back."

As Beast Boy left, Starfire reached out and took one of the cookies, slowly lifting it to her mouth and taking a small bite. The cookie was good, the chips not quite as sweet and as tasty as _real _chocolate, but to Starfire, it was all the same... nothing from Earth could be quite as good as kakmak cookies from her home planet of Tamaran, anyway.

Beast Boy returned to the room, a tall glass of soy milk in his right hand. He sat the glass on the table and again started to sit down... but was interrupted again, not by a thought but by a knock on the door.

"I will get it," said Starfire, who began to stand but was interrupted by Beast Boy, who, despite his laziness, was already up and decided he might as well answer the door.

"That's okay, Star," replied Beast Boy, quickly running to the door and opening it up.

It had been five months since the Teen Titans had last opened their door, and, not expecting anyone in particular, were shocked to discover Red X standing on the other end.

This time, Red X's presence was equally surprising... but having not seen Red X in nearly five months, Beast Boy didn't know _what _to think when he saw the thief and the one-time enemy of the Titans staring him right in the face.

"Whoa... never thought I'd see _you _again..." said Beast Boy quietly.

"Who is it?" called Starfire from the couch. She floated up and over to the door... having been the first to see Red X the first time that he paid a fateful, surprising visit, she was also equally surprised to see him... but instead of reacting with fear, she reacted with joy, recalling perfectly what X had said the last time he'd seen the Titans. He'd left on a horrible, sad note, rejecting the Titans' offer of friendship, and ultimately rejecting any hopes he'd had of helping them to defeat Slade. "It is YOU!"

As Starfire moved forward, her arms extended to give him a tight hug, X waved her off, a somber tone in his voice.

"I have a message to deliver, then I'm gone," said X. Before he could speak again, Beast Boy interjected.

"Dude, is it about Slade?" asked Beast Boy, a quizzical look on his face. "Is he attacking your family again? Or-"

"It's not about Slade," replied Red X, looking Beast Boy right in the face. "It's about Terra."

O-O-O

And with that, the second part of my Red X trilogy begins! Reviews are MUCH appreciated... only got 76 for my last story and that's really not acceptable. Though I'll continue no matter how many reviews I get (or how few), I'd really, really like to have some feedback about how this story is going. So please review!


	2. The Search Begins

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Teen Titans. If I did, this would be on TV and not here.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This doesn't take place in the same storyline as my "Forced Base" and "Fractured Heart" stories, so forget those when you're reading this. Also, about Sanza/Red X: When he's wearing the mask, he's Red X. When he's not, he's Sanza. Simple as that.

SECOND AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a sequel to "The Life and Times of Red X", which is in my profile. Read that before you read this. Also, this fic COMPLETELY IGNORES the events of the fifth season (with the exception of "Go"). For the purposes of this fic, "Things Change" NEVER HAPPENED.

O-O-O

Beast Boy was stunned. His eyes widened and his mouth stood agape, as he took a step back from Red X in an attempt to comprehend what he had just said.

"What... what about Terra?" Beast Boy stammered, his face still clearly displaying an expression of pure shock. "Is she... is she..."

It had been ten months since Beast Boy had last seen Terra alive... had last heard her final words to him... _'you were the best friend I ever had'_... and in those long, eventful ten months, he'd never forgotten about Terra. He thought about her every single day, his heart ached for her and he prayed that she would return.

Now, someone else had returned... Red X had returned to the Tower, and with news about Terra. Could it be possible? Could she really be alive again?

"It's a long story," said Red X, "and I'd like to tell it as quickly as possible."

"I will gather the others," Starfire replied. Before Red X could even attempt to stop her, she'd already made a break for the elevator, exiting the main room of the tower and quickly going to notify her friends about Red X's return.

_"I said I just wanted to deliver the message and go..." _thought Red X, still standing in the doorway of the tower. He'd been reluctant to notify the Titans about Terra in the first place, knowing full well what happened the _last _time he went to inform the Titans of something.

"Just, just tell me this, Sanza..." said Beast Boy, his voice lined with concern. Red X was slightly surprised that Beast Boy still knew his real name... but then again, how could you forget someone like Red X anyway? It was clear that Beast Boy still vividly remembered Terra... and he'd remember anyone else who had made such a lasting impression in his life. "Is Terra, is she alive, or-"

"Not quite," said Red X, walking past Beast Boy and toward the large couch facing the Titans' television screen. _"If I'm going to be here for a while, I might as well get comfortable..."_

Red X flopped down in the center of the couch, his arms stretched out across the top as he lazily slouched in the soft cushions. Beast Boy slowly walked up to him, a disappointed frown on his face. He stopped a few feet behind the couch and began to speak again.

"What do you mean... not quite?" replied Beast Boy. "Either she's alive or-"

"Is that all you know how to do, ask questions?" said Red X, a hint of annoyance in his voice. "I said I'd tell you, didn't I? I'm not telling this story twice, so wait until your friends get here. They'll be here in a few-"

It was then that Red X heard the voice of the Titans' leader, Robin... he, Cyborg, and Raven had just entered the room with Starfire, and Robin didn't sound too happy that Red X had returned. Clearly, he lacked Starfire's capacity for forgiveness.

"So, X... what have you come to steal _this _time?" asked Robin, walking out ahead of his friends and around to the front of the couch, where he gave a long, cold stare to the thief, right in his face. It was evident that Starfire had not yet told him of the reason for Red X's visit.

"Is that how you're going to treat someone who tried to help you take out Slade once and for all?" Red X replied casually, smiling under his mask.

"Maybe you don't remember, but the last time you talked to us, you told me to fuck off," replied Robin, "after you allowed Slade to escape."

It seemed that Robin too had a long memory... and it would be up to one of the other Titans to clear the air, before this volatile situation blew up into something it was never intended to be.

"C'mon, man, chill out," said Cyborg, walking up to Robin and putting a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure if X wanted to steal something, he'd have done it already. Obviously, he's here because he needs help."

"Actually, I'm here to warn you that there are people who wish to revive Terra-"

"Why are you warning us of _that_!" Beast Boy interrupted, an excited smile on his face. _"She's not been revived yet, but she's about to be... this is great! _Terra being revived is AWESOME news!"

"Would you let me finish?" replied Red X, letting out a long, annoyed sigh. "The people that want to revive her aren't exactly the world's friendliest people. They're a bunch of corrupt businessmen who want to use her powers to destroy the city and collect a huge profit off of the reconstruction effort."

Beast Boy's euphoria was quickly shattered in one fell swoop by X's ominous news... another shocked look appeared on his face, and his fists began to clench. Immediately, he thought of Slade, who also wished to use Terra's powers for his own selfish devices... which was the reason Terra became a statue in the first place.

The news was distressing to Raven as well... she and the other Titans knew first-hand how destructive Terra's powers could be in the wrong hands... of course, usually those wrong hands were Terra's own.

Robin began pacing in front of the couch, deep in thought... the Titans had tried _everything _to revive Terra over the past few months. Raven's spells, Cyborg's technology, Starfire's energy waves... nothing seemed to be able to reverse the process that had fused Terra's very flesh with the earth she once controlled so deftly. If the Titans couldn't revive Terra, then how could anybody else? Of course, Red X was about to give him an answer.

"They're planning to use something called the 'Crisis Crystal'... this yellow hunk of rock that supposedly has the power to control the elements. They can't use the crystal itself to cause disasters, but they can use it to revive Terra and then control her in order to cause the disasters themselves," said Red X, who wasn't nearly as familiar with Terra's powers as the other Titans, having had no first-hand encounters with the girl, only gathering whatever information about her powers that he could from hearsay. "Just... how powerful _is _this Terra, exactly? Beast Boy told me some stuff about her, but-"

"She was amazingly powerful..." said Starfire, "and amazingly kind, before she... before she-"

"Before she betrayed us," replied Raven, still harboring a slight twinge of resentment toward the girl, even after she had sacrificed her own life to save Jump City. "I think Beast Boy told you that, too."

"Yeah, he did," replied Red X, rising from the couch and turning toward the door. He'd done what he'd come to do, which is tell the Titans about Terra's imminent revival... if there was anyone who could stop the dangerous powerbrokers at the Mycoso Building from using the Crisis Crystal to control her, it was the Titans... X's part was over. But before he could even make it past the couch, he felt a hand on his shoulder... Robin's. From the tone of Robin's voice, he knew that the Boy Wonder was still extremely suspicious of the thief's motives.

"Just... how did you find out about this plan, anyway?" questioned Robin, wondering if there might be a chance that Red X himself was a part of the plot, and either an attack of conscience or some masochistic need to fight the Titans again had led him to the tower to notify them of its existence.

Red X, of course, probably should've anticipated that the Titans wouldn't let him leave without divulging a bit more information. Of course, there were things about the plan that X wasn't telling them... and he was reluctant to stay in the Tower even a minute longer.

But, he figured, he might as well at least tell them how he learned of the plot... they already knew he was a thief, and since he hadn't even been successful in stealing what he'd come for, whatever he had to say to the Titans was surely innocent enough.

"I'd gone to the Mycoso Building to steal their new quantum computer prototype," said Red X, turning to face the Boy Wonder.

_"I knew it..." _thought Robin, his eyes narrowing. _"I wonder what else he's stolen in the five months since we've seen him last?"_

"They'd beefed up security, and unfortunately, I had to escape through the vents," said Red X. "It was there that I managed to hear exactly what those businessmen were saying. I wasn't about to stop them, seeing as how I don't enjoy playing the hero... but I figured that I owed the green guy a chance to save his girlfriend, especially since he did help save my mother and sister. Don't think I've forgotten what you did for me."

It was a debt that Red X would never be able to repay... and he knew it. Were it not for the Titans risking their lives battling through Slade's minions and machinations, X's mother and sister may very well be dead... and though the thief in him told him to forget, the loving, familial-minded Sanza Salazar would always remember.

Again, Red X turned away from Robin and began walking toward the door. This time, Robin would let him leave... it was fairly clear that Red X most likely didn't have anything to do with the Terra revival plot.

But it was Starfire who stopped him this time... not with a touch, but with a few words, her soft voice stopping Red X in his tracks as he reached for the keypad that would open the Tower's front door.

"Thank you... but this does not mean that we will not come after you if you attempt to steal again. If you continue your life of crime, you _will _be caught..."

It was the last thing Red X had expected to hear from Starfire, and she was the last person he'd expected to hear it from. But the more Red X thought about who Starfire truly was, the more her warning made sense. She was a hero first... and it was her duty, and the duty of her friends, to stop every criminal, whether they'd worked with the Titans in the past or not.

And as the door closed behind the costumed thief, a thought slowly began to form in Red X's mind.

_"When Terra betrayed them... I wonder how easy it was for them to fight her, too?"_

O-O-O

It had been a rewarding night for Frederick Dullahan. Aside from a brief series of alert sirens that had delayed the start of his meeting for about a minute, the revelation of the Shattered Earth project had gone off without a hitch. He sat at his desk on the 58th floor of the Mycoso Building, with his bodyguard Sedaris standing to the right of the door, an expressionless look on his young face. At 24, Dullahan's hired muscle was actually quite more than an intimidating figure... he was Dullahan's confidant, the closest thing the old businessman had to a son. He, along with Dullahan, had planned the Shattered Earth project, and it was he who'd been able to arrange for Michael Barrington's shipping company to receive the commission to transfer the Crisis Crystal into Jump City's port.

As Dullahan sifted through a stack of papers on his desk, a tiny speaker began to buzz, the signal for the executive to press a red button and receive whatever message his secretary had for him. Since his secretary had already left, he knew that any message would have to come directly from his chief of security... and he quickly pressed the button to receive the call over the speaker.

"Sir, concerning the intruder an hour ago-"

"Were you able to deal with him?" replied Dullahan, having no knowledge of the intruder's identity or his motives... only that he was in fact, present in the building before the meeting.

"He came in on the 57th floor, and was attempting to steal the quantum computer," the security chief said, a hint of worry in his voice. Dullahan simply gave a slight chuckle, knowing that anyone who came for the computer would have to deal with an _extremely _nasty surprise... one of Nicholas Jarvin's finest robotic weapons, the quality of which were the very reason that Jarvin was brought on in the first place.

"And Scorpio Alpha took care of him," said Dullahan casually. "Just place the body in the incinerator, and-"

"Sir, Scorpio Alpha has been destroyed-"

A sinking feeling swept through Dullahan, and immediately, concern for the quantum computer prototype, which could easily be accessed by anyone resourceful enough to deal with one of Jarvin's weapons, began entering the executive's mind.

"Has the prototype been compromised?" shouted Dullahan, a mixture of anger and fear in his voice. "TELL ME-"

"Sir, we were able to stop him before he reached the prototype-"

This news caused Dullahan to breathe an immediate sigh of relief... and immediately he gave his bodyguard Sedaris a silent thanks for recommending that he hire the best private security firm in Jump City. It had been extremely expensive, but had already proven that it could pay for itself thousands of times over.

"But... we were not able to catch the thief," said the security chief. "He exited the tower, but we lost track of him in the parking garage and... well, we anticipate that he may return to try and steal the prototype again."

It was certainly distressing news to learn that the thief who had apparently come so close to stealing his quantum computer was still at large, but the fact that the computer was still safe created a sense of relief within Frederick Dullahan that few things could shake... security around the computer would simply have to be upgraded, and the 57th floor made completely off-limits. It would require laying off a few employees, but that was of little concern to the rich and powerful CEO of Pinnacle. There were more pressing issues at hand... specifically, the upcoming shipment of the Crisis Crystal, scheduled to occur in just two days. Once the Crystal was received, it wouldn't matter if the computer was stolen... because in just a few short hours, Terra would be revived and under the control of the brilliant Dr. Ruell.

And then Jump City would tremble.

"Thank you for that information, and I'm glad that you were able to stop the thief. One more question... were you able to get a positive identification of the intruder? A face perhaps?"

The chief of security coughed for a second, and then began to speak.

"It was... it was Red X, sir," the security chief said. "Certainly you've heard of him... he hasn't been seen in Jump City for several months, apparently he wanted to return in a big way."

"Thank you, that will be all," replied Dullahan, pressing the red button again to cut off his conversation. _"I see... only someone like Red X would be resourceful enough to take out Scorpio Alpha... this _could _be a bit of a problem..."_

"If Red X is after our quantum computer," said Sedaris, his expression unchanging as he spoke, "he might pose more than just a minor inconvenience."

"True, but I'm confident in the ability of my security team to handle any inconveniences he might be able to pose," replied Dullahan, the smile slowly returning to his face once more.

"Be that as it may... if I get my hands on Red X, I'll break him in half," Sedaris stated coldly.

O-O-O

What had started out as his first attempted theft in five months had turned into another long evening for Red X, and another encounter with the Titans... it was enough to leave the thief exhausted, and as he slid into his bedroom through the building's third story window, he began thinking of just how the Titans would be able to stop the men who were planning to revive Terra.

_"If they can come out of nowhere to get in _my _way, they can certainly stop these guys..." _thought Red X, slowly pulling out his white box from under the bed and opening it up. _"But I wonder... what will happen if they can't?"_

A noise from outside brought Red X to the window, and when he looked down through the grates of the fire escape, he could see his mother's car slowly pulling into the driveway next to the building. He turned away from the window and removed his mask, placing it in the box before sliding off his gloves and jumpsuit and putting them in the box as well. It had been an eventful night... and a nagging pain in his leg reminded him to quickly tape up the small gash that the scorpion robot's tail had made in the back of his ankle. He slid the box under the bed and quickly patched up his wound with several layers of duct tape, putting away the roll just as his mother entered.

"Your sister told me that she's eaten, have you had anything tonight?" asked Maria Salazar, her long black hair tied into a ponytail behind her head. She looked tired, and her voice clearly revealed that fact as well.

Of course, Sanza hadn't eaten... he'd been about to make himself supper when he'd begun thinking about the Red X suit... and the urge to steal had driven him all the way across town. Now, the urge to eat was causing his stomach to growl, loud enough to reveal the fact that he hadn't eaten before he even opened up his mouth.

"What in the world were you doing tonight besides eating?" questioned Maria, sadly shaking her head. "Sometimes I really wonder about you... I hope it was homework."

"Well, actually..." stammered Sanza, struggling to come up with a suitable lie. "It-"

With a long sigh, Maria shook her head again and gripped the knob of the bedroom door.

"I'll just go downstairs and make you something," she said, more exhaustion starting to surface in his voice. Quickly, Sanza interjected, not wanting to put his hard-working mother through anything else that evening.

"Just lemme borrow the car, I'll drive down to Burger Boy and-"

"...you're not wearing any pants," said Maria, a slight smile on her face as she pointed to her son's legs, clad only in a pair of tightie-whities. "I'm just going to make you a BLT, it won't take me any more than a couple of minutes."

Maria quickly turned and left the room, closing the door behind her. Sanza flopped backward onto his bed, staring up at the ceiling, a pang of guilt still slightly gripping him.

_"She's so good to me..." _thought Sanza, blinking slowly and remembering all the times when he actually _had _forgotten to eat supper because he'd been doing homework, including one time at one in the morning when his mother had entered the room, a large, steaming tray of warm food in her hands. It had been one of the best meals he'd ever had, and she'd actually gotten out of bed to make it for him.

It was times like that when he remembered exactly why he'd taken the Red X suit in the first place. He'd taken it to protect his mother and sister, perhaps the two kindest people on the face of the Earth... and it had only exposed them to more danger.

What if... what if going out had actually been the worst thing Sanza possibly could've done? What if Slade had been just about to forget about Red X, and making him an apprentice... but then the criminal mastermind had found out somehow that Red X was back in business, and that it jogged his memory to come after Sanza again?

If Slade attacked, Sanza knew he couldn't fight him off alone... even as Red X, even with his family in mortal danger, Slade had _easily _beaten him. There was... there was no possible way that Red X could ever defeat Slade.

Or was there?

_"The Crisis Crystal..." _thought Sanza, his mind feverishly beginning to work. _"If I could somehow find a way to combine the power of the crystal with the suit's Xynothium reactor and power core, then maybe I could... maybe I could use the suit itself to control the elements! I'd have Terra's power _and _my own!"_

Before Sanza could think anymore, the door opened and Maria stepped in, carrying a plate with a large sandwich on top of it... it was technically a BLT, though she'd used _far _more bacon than lettuce OR tomato, the top piece of bread was practically about to fall off because the numerous bacon strips had made the sandwich off-balance.

"Here you go," she said sweetly, setting the sandwich on the bed, next to Sanza's stomach. "Oh, and don't forget... you should probably go out and get your sister a birthday present, she's turning twelve in six days."

"Funny... I thought she was twelve already," Sanza replied, not even looking at his mother, just continuing to look at the ceiling and think of all the ways the Crisis Crystal might help him defeat Slade.

"No, she's _turning _twelve," Maria said, walking back toward the door and taking the doorknob in her hands. "Good night, Sanza."

The door slowly closed, and Sanza sat up, picking up the sandwich and taking a large bite.

_"Now I'm glad I didn't tell the Titans where the crystal is now," _thought Sanza, smiling as he slowly chewed the bacon-rich sandwich. _"My ship is about to come in... just two days from now."_

O-O-O

That night, while Sanza dreamt of the Crisis Crystal, Beast Boy's dreams were far less pleasurable... and for the first time in nearly nine months, he woke up screaming.

Beast Boy had rejected Terra... just minutes after he'd promised her that he'd never hurt her, no matter what. She was working for Slade... she had betrayed him... it was understandable that he'd be angry. But when he'd had a chance to save her, a chance to tell her that she still had a friend... he'd rejected her completely.

It was his fault that Terra had become a statue, and now was in terrible danger of being used once more, against her will, to cause death and destruction. In his dreams, he could hear her screaming, he could see her tears... and he was forced to confront his rejection of her, over and over again.

Beast Boy woke up with a scream, a single tear running down the right side of his face. After a few seconds of heavy breathing, he realized that he couldn't get back to sleep... not with his terrible visions still fresh in his mind. He had to talk to someone, have someone reassure him that Terra didn't blame him for her death... and he knew of only one person he could confide in.

O-O-O

It was nearly two o'clock in the morning... Raven certainly wouldn't want to be disturbed from her slumber, but it was the only way Beast Boy could get peace of mind after having such a horrible nightmare. Slowly, he knocked on her door... and waited ten seconds. When it didn't open, he tried using her keypad to enter... if she'd locked the door, he wouldn't be able to get in, but if she'd left it unlocked... the door would simply slide open.

And slide open it did, quickly and quietly, revealing Raven slumbering peacefully in her bed. With a bit of hesitation, Beast Boy entered the room and slowly walked over to the slumbering girl, tapping her on her bare shoulder.

Raven's eyes slowly blinked open... usually, she woke up at eight o'clock... but the darkness of the room quickly revealed that it wasn't nearly that hour. She could see a shadowy figure standing by the side of her bed... its short stature revealing she had nothing to fear... but plenty to be annoyed about.

"What... the... hell?" muttered Raven as her eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness, and Beast Boy came into view. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

But Beast Boy knew not to disturb Raven at night... and the worried look on his face, not to mention the single teardrop she could see trailing down his cheek, told Raven that her friend was in serious need of an emotional pick-up... something that Raven knew she probably wouldn't be able to provide.

"I... had a nightmare... about Terra..." Beast Boy stammered, his voice choking up as he spoke. Raven could tell that he was struggling to keep his composure, and the emotional waves she was picking up from Beast Boy's psyche were the worst she'd felt from him in quite some time. Something inside of him was hurting him... hurting him badly.

Raven sat up in the bed and looked at Beast Boy, her mild annoyance giving way to a hint of concern.

"She's going to be fine, Beast Boy," said Raven. "Robin's probably working right now on trying to find these people and how to stop them. We're not going to let her be used for evil again..."

It wasn't just that, however... Beast Boy desperately wanted Terra to be revived... but not like this. Not if she was going to be used as a pawn for destruction...

"What if... what if we can get to the crystal first?" asked Beast Boy. "What if we can revive Terra without... without her becoming a soulless object?"

"That... that's something else Robin is probably working on," said Raven. "The dream you had... was it like the others? The ones you had for about a month or so after she became a statue?"

Beast Boy thought for a second, then slowly shook his head.

"Those were... those were mostly about me rejecting her... but this dream, it was... she was _suffering_, Raven, suffering so much more... I saw one Terra being forced to destroy things, and then another... another, just standing there, screaming... it was the worst sound I've ever heard, she was in... she was in so much pain..."

Again, Beast Boy began to choke up. The thought of Terra suffering made him suffer as well, and another tear found its way down his face... it was then that Raven reached out and gripped his trembling hand tightly, her firm grip slightly calming down her changeling friend.

"I give you my word, Beast Boy... I won't let them use Terra like Slade did," said Raven, determination in her voice. Beast Boy looked into her eyes and nodded, sniffling as she reached up with her other hand and brushed a tear from his face. _"Not just for you or Terra... but for Jump City itself. I won't let this city be destroyed, not by _anyone..."

O-O-O

As Raven had guessed, Robin was forgoing sleep again, tirelessly working in his room, a laptop computer on his desk. From the information Red X had given him, Robin was able to narrow down the identities of possible conspirators... but he knew that just walking into the Mycoso Building and putting everyone there under arrest wouldn't be the right way to go, as much as he wanted to. Corporate types covered their tracks extremely well... and though the news was filled with stories of executives caught committing investment fraud or embezzlement, Robin knew that these men wouldn't be so dumb as to leave a paper trail. He and the Titans just have to start as they always did... from the ground up.

And Robin knew the Titans wouldn't have very much time. Though X hadn't told him anything about the shipment, or about the two days until it would arrive, he knew that a plan such as this obviously had a very short timeframe.

Looking up everything he could about the Crisis Crystal, he knew that it had first gone to Dallas, and then to Washington D.C., and then... then it had just vanished. It was obviously being taken away, but to _where_?

"Something as terrible as that should've been destroyed as soon as people realized it was dangerous..." muttered Robin to himself... but then, of course, he realized that human stupidity and greed, or even simple scientific curiosity would not allow for such a relic to be destroyed. There would _always _be people willing to take the risks associated with the possession of such a dangerous artifact... the potential rewards were far too great. "Now apparently it's going to be coming _here_... if it's not here already."

As Robin continued to try and trace the crystal, the door opened up, and he could hear a soft, female voice begin to speak.

"If you are going to attempt to help Terra, I wish to assist you... I cannot sleep knowing that you are putting yourself through so much."

Always concerned, always willing to help... Robin knew that he'd probably be hearing from Starfire if he decided to skip a night of sleep. He turned to face her, a serious look on his face.

"I... I can handle this, Star... it's just research..."

Starfire walked up to the computer and glanced at the screen... it was a story on a scientific website about the last known whereabouts of the Crisis Crystal, which had been shipped out of Washington on a boat after the earthquake that had ravaged the city. From there, however, the boat had seemingly vanished... no trace had been found.

"I haven't been able to find a single story about the crystal after that," said Robin, "and there aren't any records of the boat that left Washington coming here to Jump City at all."

After thinking for a few seconds, Starfire formulated a possible reason.

"Perhaps... the boat never came to Jump City," said Starfire, running another search on the computer. As Robin attempted to get her fingers away from the keys, she gently nudged him away and continued her search. Slightly annoyed, Robin made no attempt to show his annoyance... when Starfire wanted to help, she was going to help, and that would be the end of the argument.

And it wasn't like Robin _didn't _want Starfire around... her presence energized him, uplifted him... and though he'd been working feverishly for five hours straight, he no longer felt tired, even the slightest bit.

"I have located a story about a ship being attacked by pirates, just off the coast of Florida..."

_"Of course..." _thought Robin, already mentally berating himself for having not thought of a possible ambush of the ship. He'd thought of things that might sink the ship, especially because of the presence of the crystal, but when he'd run searches on ships that had been sunk by natural forces, nothing came up for the last two months. "So these pirates must've stolen the crystal!"

"Actually, the attack was thwarted by a last-minute rescue..."

"A Coast Guard ship?" interrupted Robin.

"Actually, a... that is very strange... Robin, I am going to run a search for very large cargo ships-"

Now Robin was completely baffled. Why Starfire would run a search for large cargo ships, when the crystal had last been sighted on a small cargo ship... unless the large cargo ship was in fact the one that had come to the other ship's rescue.

"But why would people working on a large cargo ship risk their lives to stop pirates from attacking another ship? Unless..."

Now it made sense to Robin, and as he smiled, Starfire gave him a knowing nod. As Starfire completed the search for large cargo ships, Robin quickly pieced together what was apparently a very complex plan to steal an extremely valuable relic.

"The pirate ship and the large cargo ship were working together. When the pirate ship attacked, the people on the large ship 'fought off' the pirates. Then, while the 'rescuers' did a sweep of the ship, supposedly to free any hostages or give first aid to the people of the smaller ship, someone from the large ship took the crystal. Obviously, when the pirate ship was searched, the crystal wasn't found, and the theft couldn't be reported, because the crystal was such a highly sensitive item anyway."

"In the next week, there are three large cargo ships scheduled to come into Jump City Harbor... and the first arrives tomorrow night."

"We'll need to know exactly what the layout of the ship is... and where in the harbor it's coming in," said Robin. "We'll go out to the harbor today and ask the person in charge exactly where the ship is going to be."

Smiling, Starfire backed away from the computer and turned to Robin. She clearly looked proud of what she had done, and was happy that she was able to help.

"Thanks, Starfire..." said Robin, looking into her eyes. "You did really well."

"You are welcome," she said, leaning in and giving Robin a quick kiss on the cheek before walking past him and toward the open doorway leading out of his room. "I assume now that you will be able to get sleep?"

"Yeah..." he replied, touching the spot on his cheek where Starfire had kissed him. He blushed slightly, but she didn't see it... she was already out the door and well down the hall. _"That was... unexpected."_

O-O-O

Sanza too was doing research about the Crystal... of course, since he didn't have the resources of Titans Tower available to him, he'd just have to make do with what he did have... the library of Jump City Public School 65.

The school's library was a decent-sized room, two thousand square feet of computers, a few tables, and dozens of shelves of books. It was there that Sanza was spending his lunch, something that he'd _never _done before, save for the two occasions when he'd been sentenced to lunch detention and the room used for that purpose was full, so the library had to be used as an alternate detention room. He sat at one of the tables, combing through the newspaper for a story on any of the companies represented by the men he'd seen in the Mycoso Building the previous night.

_"Now I know why it seems like Robin has a rod up his ass all the time..." _thought Sanza, sighing as he finished the second section of the newspaper without seeing anything about Pinnacle Industries or Barrington Shipping. It was critical, Sanza thought, to find out anything he could about the ship coming into Jump City Harbor the following night. If security at the Mycoso Building was tight, security on the ship unloading the Crisis Crystal would be ridiculous. _"This research is boring stuff."_

Just as Sanza picked up the Business section, he felt a pair of cool, soft hands gently rubbing the back of his neck... immediately recognizing their touch as that of Cleo Encina, his girlfriend for the past several months.

"Never, ever would've figured you as one for the newspaper, Sanza," said Cleo softly, bending down and looking him in the eye. Her red hair, which she'd cut short so that it reached to just below the bottom of her neck, smelled of fragrant chamomile, obviously because of the scented shampoo she washed it with. She continued rubbing Sanza, her hands moving over to his shoulder, which was covered by the thin fabric of a white t-shirt.

Sanza wasn't too annoyed to see Cleo... he needed a respite from his research, if only a brief one. He turned in his chair and gave her a warm smile, his hand reaching up and gently touching her cheek.

"I read the paper _sometimes_... the sports section," he replied, causing her to giggle.

"That says 'Business', Sanza, not sports," she said slyly, poking the front of the newspaper with her right index finger. "Checking your stocks, or...?"

"Just... doing research for a project," he lied.

"Same here... I have to check out a book on the Gilded Age," replied Cleo, "because I'm doing a report on corruption in late 19th century business and it's due next Thursday."

_"What a coincidence..." _Sanza thought to himself. _"I'm doing a project on corruption in business right NOW, and it's due tomorrow night..."_

Of course, this project was a lot more important than anything he _or _Cleo would ever do in school. An A meant the retrieval of the Crisis Crystal and never having to worry about Slade again. An F meant Sanza looking over his shoulder for the rest of his life, and potentially the destruction of Jump City, if the Titans couldn't find a way to stop the six men he'd overheard from their evil machinations.

But Sanza didn't want to think of failure... and as he continued to look up at Cleo, he began to think of something else... it was that feeling he got when he saw Starfire, and now sometimes, when he looked at Cleo... he got that feeling as well.

Was it lust, or love? As Cleo knelt down beside him, her face now level with his, Sanza began to decide... right now, it was lust.

"I um... maybe we should go out sometime this week, if you wanna take a break from... the Gilded Age thing," Sanza stammered, a hint of red appearing on his face.

"Of course we should... I'll figure out a day when I'm not busy, and we'll go do something special..."

Cleo's hands now began gripping Sanza's, her fingers interlocking with his. Her face leaned in, and before Sanza knew it, the two were kissing deeply, their tongues slowly caressing each other's inside the confines of their mouths... as Sanza's fingers parted from Cleo's hands and began to move toward the front of Cleo's shirt, the two heard a loud, sharp cry from the front of the library, the three letters any two students making out in school know to fear.

"Hey! PDA! PDA!"

But when the two looked up toward the librarian's desk, they saw with relief that she wasn't looking at them... but down toward an advertising spread in that day's paper, resting on the front desk.

"Only $149 at Bob's Electronics for a PDA with 40 gigabytes of memory, can you believe that?" said the librarian to her student assistant, who had been casually sitting next to her, reading a detective novel.

"I bet it's like $400, and you have to send in for a rebate check," said the student assistant, not even glancing up from his novel. "Last time I did that, I got burned big time. By the time they sent the damn thing, it had already expired and I couldn't even cash it. It's just a big scam operation."

Though relieved that they hadn't been caught, both Sanza and Cleo realized that the library probably wasn't the best place to express their passions.

"I'll see you in Algebra II, all right, Sanza?" said Cleo, standing up and smiling. Sanza nodded, and with one last brief kiss to the lips, Cleo walked back toward the shelves of books, disappearing into the history section as Sanza once again picked up his newspaper.

_"That was certainly refreshing..." _thought Sanza, his lips still tingling as his eyes darted across the page, in search of anything that could help get him closer to the Crisis Crystal. _"But playtime is over now... I have work to do."_

And after a few more seconds of work, Sanza finally found what he was looking for. In a section titled 'Business News in Brief', a short story about Pinnacle Industries gave Sanza the one clue he'd need to start his trail to the crystal.

"Pinnacle acquires services of Baddalax Security Incorporated..." Sanza read, his eyes reading over the entire article. Apparently, the rent-a-cops he'd seen inside the Mycoso Building had just been hired in the past few days... specifically to protect the quantum computer. Of course, reasoned Sanza, these men probably were going to be protecting the crystal as well... and if anyone knew how to get close to the treasure he wanted, it would be the people trusted with protecting it. _"One of them _has _to know how to get me close to the crystal..."_

O-O-O

And while Sanza was attempting to learn everything he could about the people at Baddalax, the Teen Titans were attempting to learn everything they could about the next large cargo ship scheduled to enter Jump City Harbor. Their search began at a large, wooden building near the entrance to the harbor, the harbor's Center of Operations. Looking more like an old Southern mansion than a place of business, the building was decorated both inside and out with relics that invoked images of the sea. Complete with rubber life savers, fishing nets, small boats, and paintings of pirate ships, the decoration of the building was obviously a labor of love for whatever interior designer had been charged with the task of beautifying it.

"Reminds me of a seafood restaurant," said Cyborg, as the five Titans stood outside the building. "And makes me hungry..."

"We can pick up something to eat after we find out where the ship's coming in," replied Raven, walking with the other Titans toward the front door of the building. Still remembering the promise she'd made to Beast Boy, Raven knew she had to keep all the Titans on task as they undertook the important duty of stopping Terra from being revived to destroy Jump City.

And as the leader, Robin knew this as well. He opened the door and stepped into the lobby, at the back of which stood a small desk with a friendly, orange-haired receptionist seated behind it. On the wall to the right was mounted a picture of Poseidon, god of the sea, as he created a mighty storm to knock the hapless Odysseus and his crew off-course. Against the back wall of the room was a bench and two chairs, which the Titans wouldn't be needing as they walked up to the desk. The receptionist, who in her other lines of work had been rescued by the Teen Teens many, many times, gave them a friendly smile.

"What can I do for you today?" she asked brightly. "It's nice to see all of you when my life _isn't _in mortal danger..."

"Glad we could see you in less desperate circumstances," replied Cyborg.

"Actually, we need to see whoever's in charge of all the ships that come in," said Robin, getting quickly to the point. "We're going to need to know exactly where a certain ship is going to be tomorrow night."

"I'll go get the director of operations right away," said the young woman, picking up a phone on her desk and pressing a button to talk to her boss. "It'll be just a second..."

"That was certainly uncomplicated," said Starfire, smiling as the young woman began speaking to the harbor's director of operations. Robin gave a quick nod.

_"Don't worry, Terra..." _thought Beast Boy. _"Once we find out where that ship's gonna be, all we have to do is get the crystal from those guys and then... then... then you'll be back with us again..."_

"I just called him," said the woman, slowly putting down the phone. "You can go upstairs to see him n-"

A loud explosion from the right wall rocked the entire building, knocking the woman off her feet and diverting the Titans' attention to where the picture of Poseidon had once rested. Now, instead of the picture, stood a large hole... through which three familiar villains stepped into the room, led by a young, bald boy hovering several feet off the ground by use of a tiny helicopter blade emerging from a pack mounted on his back. Behind him stood a large, hairy man and a pink-haired, grey-skinned girl with a devious smile on her face.

"Aw, no fair!" shouted Gizmo, his hands on his hips. "Usually we get to destroy a lot more stuff before you pitsniffers show up!"

_"Why did I have a feeling something like this was gonna happen?" _thought Robin, immediately extending his bo staff. The meeting with the director would just have to wait... stopping three of the Hive's most dangerous members came first. "Titans, go!"

O-O-O

But perhaps more dangerous than the Hive was the threat that Red X was about to face. He had just put on his costume, and now he stood by his bed, knowing that in order to get a lead on the people who had the Crisis Crystal, he'd have to mount a direct attack on Baddalax Incorporated... something he knew wouldn't be the safest thing to do. He was usually running _from _security guards... this mission would take Red X right onto their home turf.

_"This is why I put on the suit in the first place... to protect my family," _thought Red X, slowly walking toward the window and stepping out onto the fire escape. With the Crisis Crystal in hand, he'd have the power to stop Slade and protect his family forever...

But in order to obtain it, he was putting himself in perhaps more danger than he'd ever been in before. The security guards had already shown that they may not be afraid to kill him... but he'd faced death before. All he had to do was find someone at Baddalax who knew how to get to the crystal... and make him divulge that information by any means necessary.

Red X's next mission was about to begin.

O-O-O

Yes, up yours, Tom Cruise, Red X is the REAL top agent here. But can he penetrate into the heart of the most formidable private security firm in Jump City? And can the Titans defeat the Hive and get the information that they need to save the city from certain doom? I thank all my reviewers, this story's gotten a VERY nice response so far... DEFINITELY encouraging for a writer to see. I said Maddy was twelve in chapter one, she's really eleven, she turns twelve during _this _story. Hopefully I was able to use dialogue to clear up that little confusion. Chapter three should be up soon!


	3. A Walk On The Bad Side

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Teen Titans. If I did, this would be on TV and not here.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This doesn't take place in the same storyline as my "Forced Base" and "Fractured Heart" stories, so forget those when you're reading this. Also, about Sanza/Red X: When he's wearing the mask, he's Red X. When he's not, he's Sanza. Simple as that.

SECOND AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a sequel to "The Life and Times of Red X", which is in my profile. Read that before you read this. Also, this fic COMPLETELY IGNORES the events of the fifth season (with the exception of "Go"). For the purposes of this fic, "Things Change" NEVER HAPPENED.

O-O-O

The furious battle between the Titans and the Hive was just beginning inside the lobby of the Jump City Harbor Center of Operations. While the orange-haired receptionist crouched terrified behind her desk, the Titans charged toward Jinx, Mammoth, and Gizmo, with Robin leading the way. He swung his bo staff downward, toward the top of Gizmo's head, but a quick blast of pink energy from Jinx sent the staff right back in the opposite direction, and Robin received a thump to the head from his own weapon. As he stumbled back, clutching his forehead in pain, Starfire and Cyborg launched a full assault of energy blasts at the three Hive members, taking out the remainder of the right wall of the lobby and throwing up a huge plume of smoke.

"I'll crush all of you!" shouted Mammoth, who had sustained only minor damage from the blasts. He charged through the smoke and grabbed the first person he saw... who turned out to be Raven. Her eyes began to glow.

"Azarath, metreon, zinthos!" shouted Raven, causing a net to loosen from the back wall and drape over Mammoth's head. As he released the cloaked Titan and stumbled backward, struggling with the net, he was tackled from behind by Beast Boy, who'd taken the shape of a tiger. Satisfied with her attack, Raven started to turn around... and it was then that four mechanical limbs looped around her arms, pinning them to her sides and picking her up from the ground.

"I got one, I got one!" Gizmo eagerly cried, holding Raven with four of his mechanical spider legs while the other four kept him anchored to the ground. Still busy keeping Mammoth and Jinx contained, Starfire briefly left from Cyborg's side and floated up to Gizmo, her hands glowing with green energy.

"You have got _nothing_!" she shouted, bombarding Gizmo with a series of Starbolts. The Starbolts stopped just inches away from Gizmo, blocked by an energy shield that his backpack had created around its owner's body.

"Nice try, barfbreath!" said Gizmo, lifting his hand up to his goggles and lowering them over his eyes. In less than a second, the goggles began to glow, and two laser beams shot out of them, blasting Starfire in the face and knocking her to the ground with a loud scream. "Who else wants some?"

Raven struggled furiously in the grasp of the mechanical limbs holding her, finally deciding to use her energy to help her escape. The metal began to glow black, but before she could assume control of them, they gripped tighter around her body, causing her to gasp and lose concentration.

_"I can't breathe..." _Raven thought nervously, watching as her friends struggled to fight the other two members of the Hive. _"If I don't find a way to escape soon..."_

The various items attached to the remaining walls of the lobby gave Jinx plenty of ammo with which to keep her Titan opponents at bay. She was contending with both Robin and Cyborg, whose furious attacks she quickly found herself unable to dodge. Robin landed a punch to Jinx's face that sent her all the way back to the receptionist's desk, her body splayed out on top of its oak frame.

"You're not gonna get away with attacking us," said Robin, his bo staff pointed at Jinx's throat. She simply smiled, noticing the harpoons mounted on the back wall, right next to the door. Before Robin or Cyborg could react, they found several of the harpoons flying straight at them, and the two had to turn and divert their attacks to stop themselves from being impaled. Jinx stood up on the desk and fired a wave of pink energy straight at the ceiling above Robin and Cyborg. The ceiling, as well as two chairs from the room above, caved right in, burying the two unsuspecting Titans in hundreds of pounds of wooden rubble. Jinx did a flip off of the desk and onto the rubble pile, posing triumphantly where the two Titans once stood.

"ROBIN!" screamed Starfire, her fingers tightly interlocked with Mammoth's as the two powerful forces jostled for position. She attempted to push him back and out of the building, but the huge young man was too strong to simply give way, and he pushed Starfire back even further than she had pushed him.

"I'd be worrying about myself if I were you, pretty lady," Mammoth replied, giving Starfire a hard shove that knocked her onto her back, next to the pile of rubble under which Robin and Cyborg were still buried.

"I think we've got this thing just about wrapped up, wouldn't you say?" asked Gizmo, now using a mini-helicopter blade to float in the air, holding Raven in the grip of four of his mechanical legs, and a gorilla-transformed Beast Boy in the grip of the other four. "Time to put these doofuses out to dry-"

A blast of blue energy disintegrated the rubble pile in the center of the room. The Hive members immediately fixed their gaze to the source of the energy, which turned out to be Cyborg's plasma cannon. He stood up, followed a second later by Robin, who brushed himself off and gave Jinx a cold, angry stare.

"This ain't over till _we _say it is!" shouted Cyborg. Inspired by the display of power, Raven once again refocused her energy, and Gizmo suddenly found all eight of his mechanical legs being bent backward, instantly freeing both Raven and Beast Boy and causing Gizmo to let out a cry of surprise and pain.

"Way to go, Rae!" shouted Beast Boy, detransforming and giving his cloaked friend a thumbs-up, as Starfire too rose to her feet and smiled at Robin.

"Now we shall commence the kicking of the butt, yes?" asked Starfire. Robin's angry expression turned into a knowing smile, and he gave a quiet nod. The battle was on again.

O-O-O

The Titans may have held a five-to-three numbers advantage over the Hive, but Red X wouldn't be nearly as lucky as he made his way to the industrial sector of Jump City, where Baddalax security headquarters was located. The building in question sat inbetween two large factories, a barbed-wire fence completely surrounding the perimeter, which consisted of a large, well-kept yard in front of a plain-looking, two story white building. A long, black road led from the street in front of the building to the front of the fence, bisecting the yard and leading to a large, cement parking lot to the right of the building, in which about six dozen cars were parked. A sliding gate guarded the entrance to the perimeter of the building, and a guard station posted by this gate made sure that only employee vehicles were able to get inside. Another gate was at the left side of the building, this one made for trucks, which were able to drive through the gate and access a large garage inside the first floor of the building.

The building looked to be about a hundred and fifty feet wide and one hundred feet long, at least from what Red X could tell as he peered through the chain links of the fence and began to assess the situation.

_"Getting in here could be a serious problem..." _thought Red X, knowing that in this building, legions of security guards could be around any corner. Three guards, five guards, even a _dozen _guards weren't much of a problem for the skilled thief. But if they appeared in numbers like they did inside the Mycoso Building... thirty, forty, even _fifty _guards at once... then there could definitely be problems. _"I need to wait for an opportunity..."_

He could easily phase through the fence and enter the yard itself, but he knew that the fence's two guard stations were manned, and these men would be capable of alerting the building's formidable security in seconds. Then, of course, Red X would be dealing with the fifty or so guards that he feared a confrontation with.

_"What the hell am I so scared of, anyway?" _he thought, slumping against the fence, his back to the chain links, his head pointed skyward. _"I've dealt with armed guards before... this is no different. I just need to focus... I'm a thief feared throughout Jump City."_

He still remembered feeling the bullet graze across his shoulder the previous night. If it had just been a few inches to the left...

He couldn't think of that now. This task was important. Someone inside this building _knew _exactly where the Crisis Crystal was going to be the next night. Someone inside the building knew how to gain control of an item that could very well mean that Red X would never have to fear Slade again.

It was then that Red X got his opportunity. A delivery truck was approaching the left-side gate, and Red X quickly ran around the corner of the fence to gain a better look. The truck had stopped, and the man inside the left guard station was conversing with the driver of the truck, leaving its rectangular cargo hold completely unguarded. Within seconds, Red X was standing against the side of the truck, watching as a guard walked around to the back of the cargo hold and lifted up the metal grate to inspect its contents. As soon as the grate was closed, Red X phased inside, kneeling silently in the center of the cargo hold and waiting as the truck began to drive through the now-open gate and down the short road to the garage on the left side of the building.

X knew that the _rest _of his mission wouldn't be nearly that easy... and as soon as the truck stopped again, he would need to make his move. There would probably be only a few guards inside the garage to take out... fortunately for him, he had the element of surprise.

The truck stopped... and Red X decided to wait. He crouched into an attack position, knowing that the first person to open the truck would probably be the driver himself... and he was most likely unarmed.

_"C'mon..." _thought Red X, a familiar tingle beginning to slowly course through his body again. Adrenaline... he knew it very, very well.

The grate was opened again, and sure enough, it was the driver of the truck, a slightly-overweight middle-aged man wearing a plaid shirt, overalls, and a dirty blue baseball cap with his company's name printed on the front. He never saw it coming... the foot slamming right into his face, knocking him backward and into a daze. Red X leapt out of the cargo hold, and with one powerful elbow to the back of the head, the deliveryman was out.

Red X had emerged into a dark, open room with cement walls, the truck being the only object in the room aside for a few metal dollies and an orange forklift. Two security guards who had seen Red X take out the deliveryman were immediately upon him, but before they could draw their weapons, both of them found large, sticky Xs attached to their chests, connected to a long strand of Xynothium which Red X held in each of his hands. When Red X gave a small tug, both strands snapped forward like a rubber band, and the two men found themselves helplessly hurtling toward one another, their heads bashing together a second later. The impact knocked both men out.

"Now that that's taken care of, I think I'll be going," said X, turning toward the back of the garage, where a single, gray door was the only thing standing between him and the inside of the Baddalax building. However, he would find himself dealing with two more guards, who had been posted in front of the door and were now ready to fight to keep the intruder from getting inside. They drew their weapons and began to fire, only to find their bullets deflected by a metallic, X-shaped shield that Red X was now holding in his right hand. "Ah, ah, ah, gentlemen, I don't think you want to do that..."

Red X raised his left hand, firing two sharp, shuriken-like Xs that slapped across the hands of the two remaining guards, knocking the guns from their hand and stunning them briefly. This gave Red X the time to fire two more Xs, which looped around the men's arms and bound them to their sides. In their struggling, the guards lost their balance and fell to the floor, allowing Red X to casually step over them and open the metal door leading inside the building. He walked right inside, leaving the incapacitated guards and deliveryman inside the garage, alone to ponder just how this daring intruder had outsmarted them.

O-O-O

When Red X entered the building, he found himself inside a long, well-lit hallway that looked as if it could've been inside any of the office buildings he'd robbed from in the past. A large, fake plant stood at the end of the hallway in the corner, while in front of him, across the hallway, stood several wooden doors with nameplates to the side, indicating the people who worked there.

_"Of course," _thought Red X, deciding to turn right and head toward the area of the hall where the potted plant sat in the corner. _"This is a security _firm_, a place of business... most of the people here probably aren't even guards, just white-collar stiffs trying to convince other businesses that they need to hire this company's security guards."_

That didn't mean, however, that this building itself wasn't still crawling with dangerous guards... the garage itself had held four of them, and Red X immediately realized that some of the guards in the building may have heard the gunfire going on outside. Whether there were guards around or not, the thief still needed to exercise at least a reasonable level of caution.

Once he reached the potted plant, he turned the corner and found himself in another long hallway... and sure enough, there were two guards in this one, standing in place in front of what appeared to be an elevator. Red X quickly stepped backward and behind the corner of the wall so that the guards couldn't see him.

_"All I need to do is make it past the guards and into the elevator... the person who has the information I need is probably on the second floor," _thought Red X, his mind starting to formulate a plan. _"Only two guards to take out, this won't be too difficult..."_

He turned the corner again and ran down the hall, immediately alerting the guards in front of the elevator to his presence. They moved toward the center of the hall to block the intruder's path, but by that point, he'd already covered half the distance between them and the end of the hallway.

"Stop, right now!" shouted the guard, his hand lowering to his weapon. "I'm warning-"

An X affixed itself to the chests of both guards, shocking them with a high-voltage blast that stunned them both and brought them to their knees. With their limbs briefly paralyzed, the two men were powerless to stop Red X as he leapt over them and casually turned toward the elevator, his finger gently pressing the 'up' button.

"Now let's hope I get a bit more of a challenge on the next floor," said Red X, walking into the elevator and smiling as the door closed and he was slowly taken up to the second floor of the building.

His hopes would be confirmed... for while the first floor _was _mostly offices, as well as the garage where the delivery truck had come in, the second floor was the area where Baddalax's highly-trained guards awaited assignments. They passed the time in-between assignments by eating or watching television in the various lounges placed around the second floor. Some of them kept their skills sharp in the shooting gallery or the exercise rooms, while a few of the guards just wandered the halls, talking to their friends or just relaxing in-between assignments, all while being paid top-dollar for simply waiting around and doing, essentially, nothing.

The only office to speak of on the second floor was the office of the president of Baddalax, an intelligent, business-savvy 35-year-old named Derek Voscoti. Dressed in a dark blue blazer, a bright red tie, and a light blue dress shirt tucked into a pair of well-pressed, stylish khakis, Derek had none of the combat training that his highly-talented guards did... only the business sense to realize the market for their services, especially in a crime-ridden place like Jump City.

The elevator opened into another long, well-lit hallway, and when Red X stepped out, he could see three Baddalax security guards standing by a water cooler just a few feet to his right, talking and laughing amongst themselves. Thinking they were the only security guards in the area, Red X decided to make the first move, firing two explosive Xs that struck near the guards and knocked them off their feet.

"This ain't casual Friday, you know," said Red X, pointing his hands at the three downed guards and firing a glowing Xynothium net that pinned the men to the floor before they could stand or draw their weapons. "Don't you worry, I'll only be a minute."

But the explosions had created noise, and that noise alerted every single guard in the break lounge just behind and to the left of Red X. The door opened, and one of the guards, this time a woman with long, blonde hair, poked her head out of the room.

"Hey, I heard a noise, what's going on here?"

The sight of Red X, and the three trapped guards behind him, gave the female security guard all she needed to know. She stepped out of the room, drawing her gun and pointing it right at Red X's head.

"Lady, I-"

"Everybody, we've got an intruder!" the woman shouted. An outpouring of guards emerged from the lounge, standing behind the woman and drawing their own weapons. _None _of them looked very happy that their break time had been interrupted, especially by someone breaking into their own company.

All in all, Red X found himself face to face with seventeen guards in all... and suddenly, the odds weren't looking very good for the costumed thief.

_"Maybe... I should've tried being just a bit more subtle," _he thought, worried sweat starting to form beneath his mask. The woman was staring him right in the face, the barrel of her gun aimed right at Red X's forehead. If she fired now... and certainly she was within her rights... "Hey now, you caught me, all right?"

Red X slowly raised his hands in the air, trying to be as calm as possible. Slowly, the woman stepped toward him, her gun still leveled at Red X's head.

"Get down on your knees, now! Keep your hands where I can see them!"

Clearly, the guards didn't want to kill him... but Red X certainly didn't want to be _caught_, either... going to jail was not something that the thief ever wanted to experience, and because of his previous crimes, he knew that if he ever _did _get arrested, he'd be put away for quite a long time. He had to figure out some way to escape... without getting a bullet through his head.

"I'd actually like to keep standing, if that's all right with you," said Red X, keeping his hands in the air. The blonde woman's eyes narrowed, and her voice became far more demanding.

"I said on your knees! DO IT!" By now, the woman was just a few feet away, though the other guards hadn't moved up... they were about fifteen feet down the hall, and not all of them had their weapons drawn. Again, Red X formulated a plan... and if it worked, he could play all of these guards against one another. If it didn't work... well, Maddy would have to just get used to being an only child.

"I suppose if you really want me on my knees, you _could _just shoot me in the leg," said Red X, his body starting to tremble, if only very, very slightly. _"I sure hope this bitch doesn't take that seriously..."_

She didn't, and instead of even trying to shoot Red X at all, she grabbed at him, attempting to take him down as a police officer would take down a suspect. Using the woman's own leverage against her, Red X quickly got the upper hand, twisting out of her grip and maneuvering her so that her arms were behind her back. As soon as they were, he was quickly able to materialize an X-band around them, binding her wrists while at the same time placing an X-blade to her neck. She had dropped the gun, and Red X casually kicked it back behind the two of them, still keeping the blade to the woman's neck while all sixteen of her fellow male guards now had their guns pointed at the two of them.

"Dammit..." said the woman, trying a couple of times to ram her elbows into X's stomach. The blows were weak at best, and didn't even faze the thief as he slowly stepped back, keeping the blonde woman in his arms.

"You let her go!" shouted one of the other guards. "I'm warning you! I'll-"

"Risk shooting her, that's _real _intelligent," Red X said casually. "Face it, you got outsmarted. Now I don't want any of you to follow me, or-"

Suddenly, X retracted his blade and quickly raised his hand to the woman's face. Placing a sticky X over her mouth, he then pushed the woman forward, right into the path of the sixteen guards. Knowing that about half of them would immediately stop to help the woman in distress, and the other half would be tripped up by the men who would stop, Red X gained a critical couple of seconds, which he used to stick an X onto the wall and phase into the next room. By the time the guards had freed their comrade and had regained their composure, the thief was completely gone.

"DAMN IT!" shouted the woman as the X was slowly peeled from her lips. "Why did you stop to help me? Now you let him get away!"

"M...mom always taught me to always help out a lady that's in trouble..." said one of the guards, blushing in embarrassment.

"She's right, and he just phased through the wall," said another of the guards, pressing his hands up against the wall that Red X had just passed through. "There's no door nearby, anyone know what this room is?"

The room, in fact, was a locker room, which at the moment was empty. Red X quickly passed by several rows of lockers, making his way to a small shower area, and then the door that led to the room's exit. As he put his hand on the doorknob, he could hear several people approaching on the other side.

_"This isn't going to be a good way out," _thought Red X, quickly running into one of the showers and placing his hand on the wall. _"I'll have to phase through here..."_

Red X opened a passage in the wall and stepped through again, the passage closing as the guards from before all rushed into the locker room, their weapons drawn.

"This is the _women's _locker room, you know," said the recently-freed blonde woman, annoyance in her voice upon seeing sixteen of her male coworkers enter a room built exclusively for the use of Baddalax's five women guards. "Besides... I don't even think he's in here anymore..."

O-O-O

The Teen Titans had turned the tide quickly in their battle against the Hive, having landed most of the battle's offense after gaining the upper hand when Cyborg and Robin had emerged from the rubble pile.

Now, a weary Jinx was the last-remaining Hive member still capable of fighting, as Mammoth had been knocked out after sustaining a powerful kick from Starfire, and Gizmo had been tied up by a combination of cables from Robin's utility belt and netting that Raven had used her powers to wrap him up with.

"You guys should know, I'm not finished yet!" shouted Jinx, raising her hands and firing a blast of energy at the receptionist's desk. It splintered into pieces, eliciting a scream from the orange-haired woman who had been crouching down behind it, and showering the Titans with a hail of deadly debris.

"That was your last attack, Jinx!" said Beast Boy, morphing into a t-rex and letting out a loud, ear-splittering roar. Jinx raised her arms to attack again, only to have Beast Boy's large, powerful tail smash into her side and send her flying out of the building, crashing through the door and landing on her back in the nearby harbor. She came to the surface, spitting out a large amount of water and staring nervously as all five Titans slowly made their way toward her.

Thinking quickly, Jinx climbed out of the water and blasted it with another burst of energy, sending up a huge, white spray of mist that blinded all five Titans, causing them to turn their heads. When they could see again, Jinx had vanished... but fortunately, two of her friends hadn't been so lucky.

"She would've just broken out of jail anyway," said Cyborg, trying to mask his disappointment. "Still a bummer that we didn't catch her though."

"Agreed," said Starfire, re-entering the building with the other Titans as police arrived to take the other two Hive members away. "Still, we do have another important mission to complete..."

And the person the Titans needed to see in order to complete the mission, the director of the harbor's control center, was just now entering the front lobby, shaking his head in disbelief. He was a tall, middle-aged man, with graying hair and beard and wearing a blue outfit that resembled that of a ship's captain.

"What in blazes happened here?" asked the director, staring at the tattered remnants of what had once been a very beautiful lobby.

"You just lost your Poseidon picture," said Raven, casually pointing to the completely-destroyed right wall of the lobby.

"And your receptionist," huffed the orange-haired woman, standing up and brushing herself off. "I _quit!_"

She stormed from the room, picking splinters from her fingers as she walked out of the lobby through the shattered wooden doorway. Still in slight shock, the director of the control center stumbled over to one of the benches that still remained intact, sitting down and placing his head in his hands.

"I know this isn't the best time to ask, but... we actually came here to find out exactly where a certain ship would be arriving at the harbor tomorrow night," said Robin.

"And if you can help us out, we'd be really, really..." Beast Boy began, interlocking his fingers in a pleading gesture, "really, really, really, really, really-"

"We get it," said Raven, her hand sliding over Beast Boy's mouth. "Really grateful."

"I... I'll see what I can do," said the director, slowly standing up and rubbing his head. "After all, if it weren't for you Titans, this building wouldn't be standing at all... come upstairs with me and I'll help you out."

O-O-O

Red X emerged into another hallway, finding himself near an intersection. He could go forward, left, right... or backward, and probably right into the arms of the guards who were most likely still chasing him through the building.

_"I knew this was going to be dangerous," _thought Red X, _"and as long as those guards are looking for me, I won't get a moment of peace, even if I _do _find the person I'm looking for. I'll need to find a way to incapacitate all of the guards..."_

That way, of course, was provided for him in the myriad of gadgets that his Red X suit contained. He could form a barrier that would close off a room for at least an hour... more time, Red X knew, then he would actually need.

Knowing that most of the guards on the floor were inside the various rooms, he began running down the hallways, placing energy barriers in front of every door he could. In just a few minutes, he'd closed off _every _lounge and training room... trapping all the guards except for the seventeen who'd emerged into the hallways to look for him. Now, even if the guards _did _know about Red X, they'd be unable to come after him... at least until he'd finished all of the business he'd came to the building to do.

And it was while making one last pass through the hallways that Red X had encountered exactly the room he wanted to find... a large room with wooden double doors, with a nameplate to the right side of the doors marked 'Derek Voscoti, President of Baddalax Securities Incorporated'. Red X had found his man... but there was still the small matter of the guards still roaming the halls to deal with.

"Seventeen guards," Red X said to himself, making a mental note of Voscoti's office as he began running down the hall, now the predator instead of the prey. If they'd split up, his task would be a bit longer... but either way, Red X knew exactly what he had to do. _"Where might all of you have gone to...?"_

The next corner that Red X turned gave him his answer. The seventeen guards _hadn't _split up... instead, they were all attempting to beat down one of the energy barriers that Red X had put up. A bullet hole in the opposite wall indicated that bullets certainly wouldn't be the smartest way to attempt to knock down the barrier... but it was clear that brute force wasn't working either.

Several of the guards saw Red X as he emerged into the hallway, and all but three, including the female guard, gave chase as he turned the corner. Their weapons drawn, they weren't about to let the thief get away _this _time. But when they entered the hallway, the thief they had been chasing was nowhere to be found.

"Look, up there!" shouted one of the men, pointing at a pair of black legs dangling in front of the guards. The legs belonged to Red X, who was hanging from the ceiling by one arm, holding onto a shuriken X that he had impaled into the plaster. Before the guards could fire their weapons, all of them found themselves being shocked by the same electricity that had incapacitated the guards in front of the first-floor elevator. They dropped their weapons and fell on all fours to the ground, and Red X dropped from the ceiling behind them, his hands pointed toward the floor.

Before any of the guards could stand, X had buried their hands and feet in a layer of sticky, Xynothium goo, keeping them on all fours and unable to go for their weapons. As the trapped guards struggled on the ground, Red X walked over to the one guard who was struggling particularly mightily... the blonde woman whom had been the source of all his trouble on the second floor in the first place. He smiled as he looked down to her blue eyes, then walked around behind her and gave her a firm slap on the rump, which was pointed high in the air with the butts of her fellow guards. She gave a loud squeal, then turned her head as much as she could, her teeth tightly clenched.

"You bastard..." she choked out, her angry voice lined with fear.

"What are you gonna do, sue me for sexual harassment?" replied Red X, giving a slight chuckle as he walked around the corner and saw the three remaining guards, still struggling to knock out the energy barrier he'd created. "Hey, fellas!"

The three guards turned, and received a bombardment of exploding Xs, knocking all three of them to the ground. They all landed awkwardly, and were writhing on the ground, groaning in pain as Red X waved farewell to them. He walked past the hallway containing the fourteen guards still stuck to the ground, and finally was back in front of Voscoti's office.

"You certainly gave me quite a fun little evening," said Red X, smiling as he slowly turned the doorknob and made his way past the double doors and into the large office. The office was much longer than it was wide, and the back wall, made entirely of glass, offered a beautiful view of the Jump City skyline, brilliant against the colorful sunset outside.

Derek Voscoti was well-prepared for intruders such as Red X... _especially _Red X, who he'd been warned about just this morning. He smiled casually as the thief walked up to his desk, an almost... smarmy quality in his light voice.

"I just tripped the silent alarm, you know," said Voscoti, his voice trembling slightly as he spoke. Despite his confidence, he was still afraid of what Red X could do... and Red X sensed it almost immediately.

"I know," replied Red X. "You just told me."

As Red X continued walking toward the man's desk, Voscoti slowly stood up, the smile slowly fading from his face.

"I took care of about twenty of your guards out there, so if that's who the alarm summons-" began Red X, before Voscoti interrupted with...

"It doesn't summon more guards."

O-O-O

The director of the harbor's control center had been _very _helpful... but for some reason, no records of any large cargo ships were coming up on his monitor... or any other records, for that matter. The hard drive had been completely wiped.

"I... I'm really sorry, I've done all I can," said the director, slumping in his chair, sad that he had been unable to help the Teen Titans after they'd managed to save his place of employment.

"It is quite all right," replied Starfire, a disappointed look on her face. "We shall... just have to look elsewhere..."

"It's an unlucky break," said Cyborg, "your computer probably got wiped because of its close proximity to Jinx's blasts. That girl brings bad luck _everywhere _she goes."

_"Remind me to thank her for that next time I see her..." _thought Raven, and Beast Boy was thinking the same thing. The Titans had been so close to gaining a crucial piece of information about the Crisis Crystal, only to have the Hive show up and ruin it at the last second. As Robin pondered exactly what do to next, his Titan communicator rang... he took it out, and his eyes immediately widened in shock.

"Titans, we've got trouble..."

"_More _trouble?" remarked Cyborg, gently rubbing his backside. "I'm still picking splinters out of my butt from the _last _fight!"

"This isn't good..." said Robin, still staring at his communicator. "According to this readout, the Baddalax Security headquarters is being attacked by-"

O-O-O

Red X's search of Voscoti's computer wasn't going well at all. Most of the files concerning any of the six men who had been at the previous night's gathering in the Mycoso Building had been corrupted or deleted... but the fact that such files existed at all indicated to the thief that he was on the right track.

_"He's been working with these men as more than just a security provider..." _thought Red X as more files relating to the six men came up in his search of Voscoti's hard drive. _"And from the looks of what's on this computer, he's in pretty deep..."_

The warning that Voscoti had received about X had probably given him enough time to make sure the thief couldn't lift anything from the files... which was perfectly fine to Red X... who had a very nice backup plan.

But as soon as he looked up from the computer screen, he heard a loud crash... and the door to the office came flying open. Standing across the room, fifty feet away, were the Teen Titans... and they were ready for a fight.

"It's over, X," said Robin, extending his bo staff and pointing it at the costumed thief as he leapt over the desk and faced down the Titans from across the room. "Somehow, I _knew _you'd try to steal something as soon as we were distracted."

"And what makes you so sure I didn't want to fight all of you in the first place?" said Red X, casually walking forward and extending his wrist blades. Of course, Red X hadn't expected the Titans to show up... and in his current state, slightly exhausted from having dealt with so many security guards out in the hallway, he wasn't as prepared to face them as he could be. This would be his first time fighting the Titans in many months... but as far as he remembered, their powers were the same... and his suit was still well-equipped to deal with them. "You've always given me such awesome battles."

"This is serious!" Starfire said, her eyes beginning to glow. _"I am... disappointed in you... I truly thought that you wished to become a good person... and I am sad to have to fight you again. _You will not get away with-"

Before Starfire could finish, she and her fellow Titans were blasted several times with exploding Xs. The Titans charged through the explosions and straight at Red X, who was charging them just as fast. The first one to reach X was Robin, who took a mighty swing with his staff, only to have the thief do a leaping somersault over Robin's head and land right behind him. X spun around and struck Robin with a kick to the face, knocking him off-balance just before Starfire and Cyborg both fired off their blasts at once, a mixture of blue and green energy that coalesced in an explosion that completely missed Red X, who dodged to the side and engaged Raven.

"You still as moody as ever?" said Red X, who repeatedly swung his wrist blades at Raven, who dodged the slashes and countered a couple of times with kicks and chops. She was agile and well-skilled in martial arts, but not nearly to the degree that Robin was, and X quickly got the better of her, landing one slash across the hood of her cloak, and another that managed to penetrate Raven's cloak and catch her across her forearm, making a small cut.

_"He's still quick..." _thought Raven, ignoring the cut and raising an energy shield that stopped three quick slashes from Red X. Beast Boy, seeing his teammate in trouble, rushed to the rescue by transforming into a hawk and diving for Red X's face, his sharp talons driving the thief backward until he slammed into a file cabinet. "Beast Boy!"

Raven had reacted to Red X grabbing Beast Boy's legs, spinning him around and slamming him hard into the metal cabinet. Beast Boy let out a loud squawk and detransformed, only to receive a boot right to the face from Red X.

"That should take you out of the fight for a while..." said Red X, watching as a small trickle of blood began traveling out of Beast Boy's left nostril, down to his lip. _"I probably shouldn't have kicked him so hard, but that's what he gets for-"_

A sharp pain shot through Red X's back as a Starbolt impacted him, followed by another, creating a burning sensation that traveled all the way from Red X's neck to the back of his legs. He turned around and was barely able to duck under Starfire's fist, which sailed past him and continued into the file cabinet, making a large dent. Before Starfire could pull back her wrist, Red X grabbed it, twisting it behind her back and placing his blade to the side of Starfire's face.

"Did I ever tell you how _cute _you are when you're pissed off?" asked Red X, as Starfire clenched her teeth and struggled to escape his grasp. The feeling of Starfire writhing in his grip brought another familiar twinge of lust to Red X, who just smiled under his mask and tightened his grip on the girl he considered to be the most beautiful creature in the entire world. _"C'mon, X... focus... as good as this feels..."_

"Leave her ALONE!" shouted Robin, striking at X's face with a powerful leaping kick. What Starfire's fist had failed to do, the sole of Robin's foot did quite well, hitting Red X right in the nose and immediately loosening his grip on the Tamaranian girl. He stumbled back, retracting his wrist-blades and blocking Robin's next kick, a spinning kick aimed at the side of his head, with his left forearm. _"Whatever you have planned, X, you're not going to get away with it..."_

Starfire rubbed her wrist, then watched as Robin and Red X engaged in a series of punches and kicks against one another, most of them ending up missing, but a few, like a punch Robin had aimed at X's gut, connected, and X was sent back into the wall, doubled over in pain.

Robin was soon right on top of X, his hand enclosed tightly around the thief's neck, pinning him to the wall.

"Tell me, dammit! TELL ME WHY YOU'RE HERE!"

"Maybe I don't want to..." said Red X, his voice slightly raspy due to the hand clenched tightly around his throat. Before Robin could hit him again, X reached up and sprayed a red liquid into Robin's eyes. Robin screamed in pain and stumbled backward, his hands over his face.

"Robin!" screamed Starfire, rushing to her friend's aid as he fell to one knee, his eyes still burning with intense pain. "Are you-"

"Get him, Starfire! Don't let him escape!"

But Red X wasn't thinking about escape at the moment... he still had plenty of time, and he still hadn't quite had his fill of fun for the evening. The next to attack him was Cyborg, and after leaping over one of the robot's blasts, and swinging out of the way of a punch, Red X got around behind Cyborg and pressed his hands right to the Titan's back.

"If you're thinkin' of messing with my circuits again, I don't think that's gonna work," said Cyborg, starting to turn around. "I got an upgrade, remem-"

An extremely powerful jolt of electricity ripped through Cyborg's body, and he quickly found himself in as much pain as Robin, falling to his knees and becoming extremely susceptible to a well-placed kick. X's foot slammed into Cyborg's face, knocking him on his back just as Raven approached him from behind. Already, several of the objects in the room, including the windows, had begun to take on a bright, black glow.

"Azarath, metreon, zin-"

Red X barely managed to stop Raven's attack, quickly placing an X over her mouth and leaping behind her, looking toward the back of the room to confirm that the windows were no longer glowing.

_"I don't need to be cut to ribbons by thousands of shards of glass today, thank you VERY much," _thought Red X. Now, the only glowing object in the room was the X over Raven's mouth, as she carefully concentrated her energy to remove it from her face. The thief wouldn't give her the opportunity, grabbing Raven by both wrists and yanking them hard behind her back, before leaping up and striking Raven with a powerful dropkick, right to the back of her head. The combination of the immense pressure on Raven's shoulders and neck, as well as the burning sensation in both of Raven's arms, threw off her concentration and caused the energy she was building up to explode, right in her face. She fell to the ground with a loud, muffled scream, a scream that immediately drew Beast Boy's attention.

With a cry of rage, he charged toward Red X, transforming into a gorilla and taking a powerful swing at X's chest with his right fist. X leaped onto gorilla Beast Boy's arm, then did a somersault right over his head before shooting a metallic band around Beast Boy's limbs, wrapping up his arms and legs and causing him to fall to the ground next to Raven.

Red X's adrenaline was in full swing, and for the first time in quite a while, he remembered _another _reason why he enjoyed being Red X... even why he enjoyed fighting the Titans. It was fun.

_"I've FORGOTTEN how much fun it is to fight these guys..." _thought Red X, turning around and coming face-to-face with Starfire, whose enraged expression and glowing eyes revealed that the Tamaranian was _not _having fun.

"Sanza, STOP! NOW!"

It took just three words to shake Red X nearly completely out of his euphoria... his eyes widened, and his body began to shake.

_"She... she called me Sanza?" _thought Red X, his fists clenching tightly. _"What... what is she trying to-"_

"We help you... you help us... then you go out and steal again... and then you hurt us... I am tired of putting up with you going back and forth, and I wish to know, RIGHT THIS SECOND, if you are with us, or if you are against us!"

The hurt in Starfire's voice was clear... and even Robin, who was still on the ground, rubbing his eyes, took notice, looking up at Starfire as clearly as he could. She was shaking... shaking just as hard as Red X was...

_"I... I never wanted to hurt you, Starfire... I just... I just..."_

Just wanted to protect his family... everything else, the powers, the fights with the Titans, the adrenaline... it was all just a bonus... a blessing that, more often than not, turned into a curse.

And again, Red X could see the tears beginning to form in Starfire's eyes. Robin couldn't see them, his own eyes still filled with tears from the severe irritation that X's liquid had given him, but Red X could see them... and right now, he didn't care.

"I'm with _me_."

Red X fired an exploding X at Starfire at point-blank range. The attack nearly knocked her over, but she recovered quickly enough to fire at Red X with her eye lasers, catching him on the leg and causing him to hop his next couple of steps. She lunged at him, a punch aimed straight at his face, but he swung to the side and shot out his binding cables, wrapping up Starfire's arms and knocking her off balance. She immediately fell to her knees, striking out at Red X with a kick as she fell. He leapt backward and shot out another cable that bound Starfire's ankles, then stood over her, his arms crossed triumphantly over his chest.

Starfire looked up at Red X, her teeth clenched, an amalgam of negative emotions swirling within her as she lay on the carpeted floor of the office, thrashing furiously against the bonds that held her.

_"You... you... you are not like this... and yet... you are..." _she thought, stopping her struggles and just looking at Red X... the betrayal now clearly evident on her face.

Red X's lust was now almost impossible to control... he knelt down beside Starfire and gently stroked his hand across her face... the situation almost a carbon copy of what had happened in the museum, several months earlier. She was helpless then... and she was helpless now.

_"Why do I keep doing this?" _thought Red X, watching as the sweat trickled down Starfire's brow, and she began another round of struggling. _"Why do I-"_

The question would go unanswered, because Robin leapt on Red X's back, pressing him face-down into the ground. As soon as X managed to roll over, Robin began punching him over and over again, his body weight crushing X's arms to his sides and making it impossible for him to fight back.

"I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE STARFIRE ALONE, GOD DAMMIT!" Robin's face was contorted with rage, an almost animal rage... and the fact that Red X had tried to hurt Starfire again made everything else irrelevant. Whether Red X had helped the Titans or not, he was a criminal... and he was going to pay, right here and right now. _"I'm not going to let him spend another minute hurting Starfire... this is going to end, right now!"_

As the weary Beast Boy, Raven, and Cyborg looked on, Robin continued punching Red X, giving no indications that he was going to stop. Even Starfire soon became terrified by the display... but just as she was going to appeal to Robin to stop, Red X stopped Robin himself. Using all of his strength, Red X managed to press his feet into Robin's stomach and toss him backward, flipping Robin over and onto his back.

_"A few more seconds of that and my nose would be broken..." _Red X thought, lying on the ground and taking a couple of seconds to regain his composure. He could feel that both his nose and his lip were bleeding, and now he decided that it was just about time to end his 'fun' with the Teen Titans.

X and Robin made it to their feet at the same time... Red X retracted his wrist blades, while Robin prepared his bo staff. The two met in the same spot in less than a second, with Red X crossing his wrist blades and using them to block Robin's staff, causing a loud metallic clang and several sparks to form. X charged forward, swinging his blades multiple times at Robin's head, but Robin used his staff to block every time, changing the staff's position and twirling it around as the two slowly made their way toward the back of the room.

At the same instant, Robin and X both decided to put away their weapons, and moved on to hand-to-hand combat, with Robin quickly backed up against the desk as he attempted to dodge a flurry of quick kicks and even quicker punches from his costumed nemesis. Robin's speed and experience gave him the upper hand, however, and he was able to reverse one of X's punches into a shoulder block, which stunned X long enough for Robin to be able to kick him hard in the shin. Red X fell forward, and Robin leapt out of the way, allowing X's face to slam straight into the front of the desk.

"Had enough yet?" asked Robin, picking up the stunned thief and lifting him up onto the desk before climbing up with him, keeping Red X in a headlock the entire time. He released X from the headlock, only to strike him with a kick in the chest that nearly sent X tumbling off the side of the desk, before he was barely able to steady himself and regain his balance.

_"He's never going to let me leave..." _thought Red X, realizing that he was now trapped up against the side of the desk and left extremely vulnerable to Robin's next attack. Thinking quickly, he picked up the flat-screen computer monitor that had been sitting on the desk, yanking it up with enough force to rip it free from the cord connecting it to the console sitting underneath. As Robin leapt up to strike, Red X brought the monitor, screen-first, right onto Robin's knee. With a cry of pain, Robin collapsed on top of the desk, and Red X quickly kicked him off the back of the desk, knocking him into the office chair sitting behind it and causing the chair to slide all the way back into the window. As a dazed Robin attempted to recover, Red X shot out two metallic Xs that bound Robin's wrists to the armrests of the chair, temporarily holding him in place. "I think the question is, Robin... have _you _had enough?"

Suddenly, Red X could feel two _powerful _arms looping around his own, forcing his arms up into the air. Two hands clasped tightly behind his neck, and Red X felt himself being lifted clear off of the desk and pulled backward.

Starfire had broken free of the metallic bands that had been holding her, and was now keeping Red X locked in a powerful full-Nelson hold. She began flailing his body about in her grasp, intensifying the hold and the pressure it was having on his neck. Slowly, Red X could feel the oxygen leaving his body.

"Let us see how well _you _enjoy not being able to move your arms!" shouted Starfire as she angrily flailed X about like a limp rag doll. Meanwhile, Robin was trying to reach the nail file concealed in one of his wristbands, attempting to free himself from the chair in case anything happened to Starfire.

Red X could slowly feel himself passing out in Starfire's grip... he had to do something, _anything _to break free, or he would pass out and wake up somewhere where he _didn't _want to be... a prison cell.

It would be up to Red X's legs to again extricate himself from a situation which his arms could not. He leapt up and wrapped his legs tightly behind Starfire's back, attempting to use this leverage to reduce the pressure that her hold was putting on his arms and neck. Her hold remained strong, however, and he could continue to feel the air slipping away... he even blacked out, if only for a split-second.

"You will not get away this time..." said Starfire, a hint of sadness in her voice. Red X tried gripping his legs even tighter around Starfire, but her arms weren't going to budge, no matter what he did.

Robin watched, and could see the sadness in Starfire's eyes, even through the angry green glow. She had _never _wanted to fight Red X again... and had even come to view him... no, not Red X, but Sanza Salazar, the teenage boy behind the mask, as a friend... a friend worth saving, a friend worth protecting...

_"Starfire... I know you cared about him, but... but he's a criminal... he's always going to be a criminal, even if he isn't evil like Slade... and I don't want him to hurt you."_

A split-second of hesitation... that was all it took for Red X to free himself. Just before he would've passed out for good, he could feel Starfire's grip loosen, ever so slightly... and he thrust his legs up and forward, putting Starfire in the air. Surprised by the sudden lift, she released X's arms entirely, allowing him to swing forward even more, ducking and watching as her forehead careened right into the edge of the desk. Her forehead smashed into the hard wood, and she was knocked out instantly, having sustained a blow that would've given a human a debilitating concussion. Her Tamaranian strength meant that she was largely unharmed, and would probably wake up in less than a minute... but that didn't matter to Robin, who grew outraged at seeing Starfire harmed in even the slightest way. He burst free from the armrests of the chair and lunged forward, grabbing Red X and pulling him back up onto the desk.

Still woozy and exhausted from Starfire's full-nelson hold, Red X was defenseless, having used up most of the rest of his strength to throw Starfire off of him. He managed to throw one weak, slow punch, which Robin easily ducked under before grabbing Red X by the wrists.

"I told you not to hurt Starfire..." said Robin, staring straight into Red X's eyes. "Now I'm going to make you pay."

With all of his strength, Robin picked Red X up and flung him backward, behind the desk and to the left of the office chair. The other three Titans, who had been recovering from their own wounds and watching what had been happening from the front of the room, gasped when they realized what was about to happen. Raven, the X still stuck to her mouth, let out a muffled scream as Red X slammed into the window, shattering the glass and starting to fall. Robin immediately lunged for Red X, barely saving him by grabbing the thief's hand, holding onto him for dear life.

_"What... what the hell was I thinking?" _thought Robin, gripping tightly onto Red X's hand as the costumed thief dangled above the concrete below. Red X looked up at Robin, a bit rattled from the impact against the window, now breathing heavily as the Boy Wonder started to pull him back in.

"R...Robin..." said Red X slowly, looking straight into Robin's eyes. "Tell Starfire... tell her I'm sorry-"

"Just shut up," replied Robin, exerting a great deal of strength as he continued trying to pull Red X back up.

"Wait..." said Red X, "I have... one more thing... to tell you..."

Robin didn't notice Red X, slowly lifting his other hand and charging it up with Xynothium energy. He didn't even reply to X, still slowly attempting to pull him back up through the broken window.

"It was only... a two-story drop," said Red X, before he blasted Robin with an exploding X, right in the face. Robin let out a scream and fell backward, his grip on Red X immediately slipping away.

"DAMMIT!" shouted Robin, painfully crawling back to the window and looking down, expecting to see Red X lying on the ground, writhing in pain, or unconscious, or even dead... but was instead shocked when he saw... absolutely nothing at all. Nothing but broken glass on the pavement below. "What the..."

By now, the other three Titans had made their way to the broken window, and even Starfire had woken up, rubbing her throbbing forehead as she looked down to the pavement.

"Can't believe I forgot that this is only a two-story building," said Cyborg, his voice lined with regret and disbelief.

"Well, what are we all waiting for?" asked Robin. "He couldn't have gone too far, we have to follow him!"

Robin leapt out the window, followed immediately afterward by Cyborg. Beast Boy started to jump, but Raven put her hand on his shoulder, causing him to turn around. With a couple of hard tugs, she managed to get the X off of her face, then slowly began to speak.

"I can... float us both down," said Raven.

"Are you okay?" Beast Boy replied, still concerned for Raven's health after the painful blow he'd seen her take during the fight. "And I was actually just gonna turn into a bird on the way down-"

"I'm fine," said Raven, before taking Beast Boy's hand and gently floating down with him to the ground. Starfire lingered by the window for several seconds, no longer rubbing her forehead... instead, she just slumped by the window, still trying to figure out exactly how she should feel. Should she be angry? Sad? Afraid?

So much had happened in the past twenty-four hours... Red X had so dramatically re-entered all of their lives... and Starfire couldn't help but wondering that he was going after the same thing that the Titans were...

_"I still do not understand," _she thought, her hand pressed against her cheek. _"You tell us of this crystal, and then go after it yourself... do you wish to revive Terra as well? Or... or do you just want the crystal for yourself, just like you wanted the suit..."_

And as much as Starfire wanted Red X... no, wanted Sanza Salazar to be a good person, to be a friend... if he was a true criminal at heart, then she was just hurting herself by expecting him to change.

And with that hurt fresh in Starfire's heart, she leapt down from the window and rejoined her fellow Titans.

O-O-O

The Teen Titans never thought to look in the parking lot... it was unfortunate, because that was exactly where the weary Red X was headed... as darkness now shrouded the building, he crept back to the parking lot, where his back-up plan was currently waiting for him.

Derek Voscoti had been tied to an orange forklift, the lift raised all the way and his arms bound above his head by X-bands that secured his wrists to the lift, his left hand to the left metallic lift bar and his right hand to the right metallic lift bar. He would've tried calling out for help, had there not been a sticky X placed over his mouth, muffling all of his words. None of his employees had gone out to their cars... it wouldn't have mattered much anyway, seeing as how the lift was concealed by the building's shadow, and his body was pressed tightly to the wall of white brick that made up the right side of the building.

Slowly, he could feel the lift being driven backward, until there was about twenty feet of space in-between his body and the wall of the building. The lift was being driven by Red X, who slowly walked out of the lift and around to the front, coming face-to-face with the president of Baddalax Security. He reached up, slowly sliding his finger across the X that covered Voscoti's mouth.

"I can remove this, but I'm pretty sure you're going to scream when I do," said Red X, "so I want you to promise me that you're not going to scream. Do you promise?"

Before Voscoti could nod, X grabbed him by the jaw, his fingers locking tightly around the man's chin.

"Now before you say yes, just a warning... I don't like people who break their promises to me. I just kicked the shit out of the Teen Titans, whom you apparently sent to capture me... now think about it, if I can beat them... what do you think I can do to _you_, especially since you're pretty helpless right about now. If you scream... well, like I said, I don't like it when people break their promises."

X then ripped the sticky red tape from Voscoti's mouth, almost causing him to let out a scream... not from wanting to alert anyone, but from sheer pain... he managed to keep himself silent, and his entire body began trembling in fear. He'd obviously expected the Titans to take care of Red X... Sedaris certainly told him they would.

"You're going to tell me what you know about Project Shattered Earth, or at least what you know about any one of the six assholes _working _on Project Shattered Earth. All I want from you is a place and a name, that's it. Don't give me an office building, I want a house, or somewhere not going to be very well-guarded... somewhere where I can get to one of them, just like I got to you."

"I swear, I swear to God I don't know anything about-"

"Wrong answer," snapped Red X, walking back around and climbing inside the forklift, triggering the lift forks to slowly move downward, further and further until Voscoti was on his knees...

"What are you doing!" screamed Voscoti, trying desperately not to panic.

"I'm crushing you," replied Red X. "This forklift is rated at 5,000 pounds, which means it can lift something upward with a force of 5,000 pounds... or press downward, probably with an equal amount of force. If I make this go all the way down, I'm pretty sure I can snap you in two."

Obviously, Red X wasn't going to snap Voscoti in two... even _he _had his limits, though he wasn't about to let the man he currently had strapped to the forklift he was controlling know that.

"P...please... I don't know anything about... please... I've got kids-"

"No, you _don't _have kids, I looked in your wallet and if you _had _kids, you'd have their picture in there. You also don't have a wedding ring, so you don't have a wife either. Not like I even give a damn. You tell me what I want to know, or the last few minutes of your life are going to be very, _very _painful."

Voscoti trembled even more... he was almost about to urinate himself, and though he feared retribution for revealing any information about his clients, he feared being snapped in two even more... it was either crack now, or crack literally in about ten seconds.

"B...Barrington... Michael Barrington, he's in charge of the shipping company..."

Red X immediately jumped out of the forklift and walked around to face the trembling Voscoti as he gave the thief the information he wanted.

"Barrington's leading some... some youth ministry group, he's rented out an under-21 club for the evening... he's gonna be there tonight..."

A youth ministry group? Religious convictions or not, it was clear that Michael Barrington was not the man of God that he pretended to be... his involvement in a plan like Shattered Earth was a testament to that.

"Where's the club? Where is it?" shouted Red X.

"It's The Scene, it's a building on 17th Street, just a mile or so from here... please, I swear, that's all I know-"

"You know a lot more, I'm sure, but that's all I need," said Red X, patting the man's cheek as he quickly ran out of the parking lot. "You've been a BIG help, I'm sure the Titans will pick you up sooner or later...!"

And just like that, Red X was gone, leaving the trembling executive still tied to a forklift in the parking lot of his own company.

_"The Titans?" _thought Voscoti, his eyes wide. _"But I thought they... I thought Red X kicked their asses!"_

Despite the fact that Red X was gone, Voscoti knew he didn't want to be tied to a forklift any longer than he had to be. He began screaming at the top of his lungs, his voice filled with terror.

"SOMEBODY HELP ME! DAMMIT, HELP ME NOW!"

And within thirty seconds, the Titans were in the parking lot. They freed Voscoti from the forklift and gently helped him to his feet.

"Sir, are you all right?" asked Robin, checking to see if X's latest victim had sustained any injuries. "We can take you to the hospital if-"

"I'm fine... thanks," Voscoti grumbled, rubbing his sore wrists.

"Red X... did you see where he went?" Cyborg queried. Voscoti hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

"He... he ran out of the parking lot, but I don't know where he's going next," said Voscoti. _"I could send the Titans after him, but... if they end up at The Scene, there's a chance they might figure out what Barrington's up to... and if this plan is jeopardized, Sedaris is going to tear me apart... Barrington's men can take care of X."_

Voscoti's words had triggered to Robin that something wasn't quite right. He and the others hadn't even _asked _if the man knew where Red X was going... and they weren't going to, either. But Red X had obviously tied this man to a forklift for a reason... just like he'd come here for a reason.

_"He didn't take anything... there's no treasure here, nothing all that valuable... he came here for information... and somehow, I think he got what he came for."_

Starfire's suspicions were heightened as well, and Raven could sense from Voscoti's emotional vibes that he was hiding something.

But the Titans couldn't prove anything... and Voscoti wasn't going to give anything up. Not to the Titans, who he knew couldn't and _wouldn't _torture him.

It was Red X who'd come out ahead this night... and now, the thief was well on his way to his second stop of the evening.

He just had no idea of knowing that he was on his way into a trap...

O-O-O

It's the return of Red X _Classic_... fighting the Titans, lusting for Starfire, and having no qualms about getting rough with the people that stand in his way. But is Red X's luck going to continue? It's a 16th Century-style duel of Protestantism and Catholicism, with a healthy dose of naval warfare, next time on _Maiden of Stone_!


	4. Ship To Shore

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Teen Titans. If I did, this would be on TV and not here.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This doesn't take place in the same storyline as my "Forced Base" and "Fractured Heart" stories, so forget those when you're reading this. Also, about Sanza/Red X: When he's wearing the mask, he's Red X. When he's not, he's Sanza. Simple as that.

SECOND AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a sequel to "The Life and Times of Red X", which is in my profile. Read that before you read this. Also, this fic COMPLETELY IGNORES the events of the fifth season (with the exception of "Go"). For the purposes of this fic, "Things Change" NEVER HAPPENED.

O-O-O

Red X had his newest target... "The Scene", an under-21 club where, if Voscoti had been telling the truth, the owner of the shipping company in control of the Crisis Crystal was currently running a party for members of his youth ministry group.

Once Red X was just a block away from the club, he slipped into an alley and switched outfits. Taking off both his civilian clothes and his Red X suit, he then put the suit back on, rolling up the sleeves of the arms and leaving off the gloves and mask. He put on his normal clothes, a t-shirt and denim jeans, concealing the suit underneath and putting the mask and gloves into his pockets.

_"This should allow me some cover until I find out what's _really _going on," _thought Sanza, stepping back out of the alleyway and walking toward the entrance of the club.

"The Scene" was a two story building sandwiched in-between a pair of taller apartment buildings. Its exterior siding had been painted white, and above the door hung a glowing neon sign that spelled out the club's name in fancy, cursive-style letters. As Sanza walked up to the club's entrance, someone standing outside recognized him immediately, running over to Sanza and clapping him on the shoulder.

"Never thought I'd see _you _here, Sanza..." said the boy, who was a couple of inches taller than Sanza, and who attended several classes with him at school. His short, straight blonde hair shone brightly in the neon shining down on it, while his buttoned blue shirt and khakis were a bit more formal than Sanza's simple outfit. "Aren't you Catholic?"

"Yeah, well, you know, I heard of this thing, and... we're _all _Christians, aren't we?" replied Sanza, feigning a slight chuckle. "I don't think it's a sin to go to a Methodist party, is it, Steve?"

"For me, no, for you... well, there's always confession, isn't there?" With a laugh even louder than Sanza's, Steve pointed toward the entrance and into the building, where Sanza could see brightly colored lights and multiple strobes pulsating across the dance floor. "It _is _free, just come on in and enjoy yourself! There's snacks, and punch, and-"

"I'll just dance if that's all right," Sanza said, and with that, he walked into the building alongside his friend.

When Sanza got inside, he was confronted with a scene quite unexpected for something one would normally expect at a Christian function. Loud, booming rock music was playing over the room's numerous speakers, and as bright lights moved across the dance floor, the teenagers inside were gyrating to the music, several of them dancing as sensually as they would at a normal school dance. In particular, Sanza's eyes drifted to one girl, whose silver crucifix necklace bounced repeatedly against her large breasts, covered only by a tanktop as her body gyrated to the music.

"Poor me," muttered Sanza sarcastically to himself, "a virtuous little Catholic boy exposed to such sinful behavior."

He made his way over to the punch table and picked up a small, transparent plastic cup, filled with a tangy red mixture of fruit punch. As he gulped down the entire contents of the cup in less than ten seconds, he began thinking about where in this club Mr. Barrington could possibly be. Overlooking the main dance floor was a balcony that stretched across the entire width of the room, and Sanza could see a single door past the balcony, flanked by two windows across which the drapes had been drawn, concealing whoever was inside.

"Hey, maybe I should introduce you to Mike... he's the guy responsible for setting this whole thing up, he's the youth minister at my church and he's such a cool guy, plus he has an awesome relationship with God!"

The name Steve had mentioned immediately caused a light bulb to go on in Sanza's head. Mike... Mike, where did Sanza remember that name?

_"Michael Barrington," _thought Sanza, _"the shipping magnate... of course."_

Seeing a valuable opportunity to get close to the very person who knew exactly where the Crisis Crystal was, Sanza turned to Steve and nodded his head.

"Of course I'll meet him, do you know where he is?"

Steve nodded, and gestured for Sanza to follow him toward the back of the room, where a hallway led past the men's and women's restrooms to a set of stairs, guarded by two individuals... Sanza recognized the men immediately, their uniforms identified them as belonging to Baddalax Securities.

"Uh, why are these stairs being guarded?" asked Sanza, who was a bit surprised when the two men simply stepped away from the door and allowed both him and Steve to pass through.

"Oh, these guys are just here to make sure nobody brought in any drugs... they're both really cool though, and they go to the same church I do!" said Steve as he and Sanza ascended the stairs to the club's balcony. Once they emerged, on the balcony, they walked past two more guards and turned a corner, so that they were now overlooking the main floor and right in front of the club's main office. "Well, he's right in there... I can go in with you, or-"

"That's fine," replied Sanza. While he wasn't going to interrogate Barrington just yet, he still wished to be alone in the room with him for their first meeting... which, unless Barrington somehow found out that Sanza was Red X, would be a friendly encounter. "Thanks for bringing me here, you can go back down and dance now."

"Sure thing... I'm really glad to see you here, Sanza, enjoy yourself for the rest of the evening!"

As Steve walked back around the corner and toward the stairs, Sanza reached down and turned the knob, not knowing what he would find once he made his way into Barrington's office. All he knew was that before this night was over, he'd know _exactly _where the Crisis Crystal was... no matter what it took to find out.

The main business office of "The Scene" was quite a bit smaller than Voscoti's office back at the Baddalax building. The front of the desk stood only four feet from the door, leaving just enough room to place a wooden chair comfortably next to it. As soon as Sanza stepped into the room, Michael Barrington, dressed casually in a dark blue sweater and a pair of blue jeans, stood up and reached across the table, offering Sanza a friendly handshake.

"Welcome, brother in Christ," said Barrington, smiling warmly as Sanza reached out and shook his hand. "Please, have a seat."

Sanza slid out the wooden chair and sat down, a smile on his face as well, though internally he was disgusted that someone proclaiming to be a man of God could be involved in a plan to destroy Jump City for money and power.

Though, Sanza had committed his own fair share of sins... he still desperately wanted to cast the first stone.

"I have a confession to make," said Sanza, again feigning an emotion. This time, it was nervousness. "And I guess I should be used to confessions... I'm Catholic."

"There's nothing wrong with that," said Barrington, the warm smile remaining on his face. "We both follow the Lord Jesus Christ and obey his commandments, you in your way and I in mine. Did you come here to meet other Christians?"

Sanza nodded.

"A few of my friends at school told me about this party," lied Sanza, "and I was a bit wary about coming at first, because I'm not a Methodist like all of you, but-"

"We have _many _Christians here, while most are them are from my youth ministry, a few of the people here don't even attend church at all. All I wanted to provide tonight was a safe environment for young people, all of them devoted to Christ, to get together and have a good time."

"And I'm certainly having that tonight," said Sanza, smiling as he rose from his chair. "Thank you very much, sir."

"You're absolutely welcome!" Barrington continued to maintain an open, friendly presence. He reached across the table to shake Sanza's hand again, and again Sanza complied. There was nothing in the room that seemed to indicate to Sanza that it could reveal information about Barrington's plans... the club wasn't even _owned _by Barrington, it had just been rented out. The only information he stood to gain was from Barrington himself, and the only way he could gain that information was as Red X. Sanza left the room and immediately walked back toward the stairwell.

He knew he'd have to become Red X... the bathrooms afforded him more than enough cover for that purpose. Few people at the club even knew he was there, and there's no way those people would suspect him... then again, a Catholic at a Protestant youth ministry seemed like a fish out of water. _Someone _would know something was up... and he could only hope that Barrington wasn't already onto him.

Inside the club's main office, Michael Barrington had no idea that the young man he'd just talked to was out to get him... he didn't even have any idea to expect Red X, until the phone sitting on his desk began to ring. He picked it up, and the next voice he heard was that of Dullahan's bodyguard and confidant, Sedaris.

"I just received a call from Derek Voscoti a few minutes ago... it seems his company was recently attacked by the same thief who raided the Mycoso Building last night."

Sedaris' words caused Barrington to slide back in his chair. He hadn't expected to hear about the intruder again, and so soon... Jarvin had assured him and the others that Scorpio Alpha had done its job.

"I... hadn't heard that he'd gotten out of the building," said Barrington, his fingers starting to drum on his desk. "Do we know the identity of the thief?"

"Red X, whose last string of robberies ended mysteriously about five months ago," Sedaris stated. "And he's quite possibly headed your way. X managed to extract your location from Voscoti... do you have enough security detail to handle a possible attack?"

"There's four men actively stationed here, and several undercover among the crowd of teenagers dancing here," said Barrington. "I... certainly hope it doesn't come to a situation where these men would have to fire their weapons in a room full of children."

"See that that _doesn't _happen," said Sedaris. "We don't need a tragedy on our hands so close to the goal. You need to remain active so that we will be able to safely retrieve the Crisis Crystal from the harbor tomorrow night."

Barrington hoped to avoid any situation where the innocent teenagers on the dance floor below may be potentially caught in any sort of crossfire... but in the grand scheme of things, they were merely collateral damage. Certainly expendable if necessary... any injuries or deaths that occurred would be blamed on Red X, should he be foolish enough to show up.

"But if my men have to fire-"

"The most important thing is that _you _remain in play. Do what you have to, but for the love of God, don't get yourself arrested," said Sedaris, before hanging up the phone.

Clearly, Michael Barrington wasn't the man of God he professed himself to be.

O-O-O

After spending another half-hour mingling on the dance floor, drinking punch and dancing to the contemporary Christian music that was being blared loudly over the club's large, powerful speakers, Sanza decided that it was finally time to make his move. He slipped away to the men's bathroom, found himself a stall, and switched outfits once again. This time, his clothes would be on the bottom... and his Red X suit, its sleeves down, gloves and mask both on, would be on top and out in the open.

Sanza was Red X once more... and Red X had a mission.

He stepped out of the bathroom, and immediately came face-to-face with two girls... both of whom had seen reports of Red X in the news and knew exactly what he was capable of. They quickly turned and ran in the opposite direction, back toward the dance floor, while Red X dashed to the stairwell. This time, the guards who were standing there weren't nearly so friendly. Both took out their guns, only to have them knocked away by the agile thief, who pushed the guards out of the way and threw open the stairwell door.

_"I'll have them after me in seconds..." _thought Red X, and sure enough, the two guards gave pursuit, chasing Red X all the way up to the balcony. Once he arrived, he was confronted by two more guards, and now was surrounded, two men behind him and two men in front.

Thinking quickly, Red X extended his arms, shooting a large X outward from his body. The four points of the X slammed into the chests of each guard, affixing to their bodies and knocking them all back into the walls of the corridor. This allowed X to easily dash past them and around the corner, to the section of the balcony overlooking the main dance floor.

Immediately, he received a very unwelcome surprise... a burst of gunfire. The two girls had alerted people on the dance floor that Red X was in the building, and the two dozen undercover guards on the dance floor responded quickly, taking out their concealed weapons and opening fire as more than one hundred terrified teenagers fled past them, quickly evacuating the club as Red X formed a large metallic shield to block the bullets. The shield held against the barrage of bullets, but several large cracks indicated to Red X that his shield wouldn't hold for long. His back now against the door, X's thoughts shifted from catching Barrington to preserving his own safety. What had started out as a simple mission had turned into a dangerous ambush.

_"There has to be an emergency exit somewhere..." _thought Red X, but before he could even begin walking away from the balcony, he received a hard shove in the back that knocked him off-balance... and right up against the metal balcony railing. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Michael Barrington, now flushed with rage, advancing toward him, ready to hurl him completely off the balcony.

"I was told you'd show up here," roared Barrington, "and I know you're after _our _technology... you'll never get it, thief!"

"And you'll never destroy this city," said Red X. As Barrington lunged forward with another shove, X steeled himself against the railing and slammed both of his feet into his attacker's chest, knocking him backward. He could hear the men below preparing to fire again, and knew that he was completely exposed... if more bullets came his way, he'd be killed instantly. _"This man will make a very nice shield..."_

With all the agility of a skilled thief, Red X slipped between Barrington's legs and emerged behind him, his arms pushing the man forward and nearly causing him to fall off the balcony, just as X had.

"Hold your fire!" shouted Barrington, waving his arms as Red X slipped into the office behind him, completely out of the man's sight. "Dammit, where did he-"

Barrington looked to his left, and then to his right... and then behind him. The thief was nowhere to be found, and the guards standing on the dance floor lowered their weapons, they too no longer seeing any sign of their intended target.

Without warning, a large, red, claw-like object emerged from the open door, wrapping around Barrington's chest and stomach and yanking him into the room. As soon as the man was inside, the office door slammed shut behind him. Immediately, the twenty-four men on the dance floor rushed toward the hallway, hoping to reach the stairwell before it was too late.

O-O-O

Inside the office, Red X whipped his right arm backward, causing the claw attached to his wrist to release, and causing Barrington to be thrown into his chair. The stunned shipping magnate began stammering loudly, sweat pouring down his face as Red X stared him down across the table.

"What do you want?"

"You know what I want. The crystal. Where's it going to be tomorrow night? It's _your _ship, you HAVE to know!"

Barrington soon found Red X's palm pointed at his face, the center crackling with bright red electricity, indicating that one of the thief's weapons was about to fire up.

"I... I won't tell you..." Barrington said, his voice lined with intense fear. "I know what you threatened to do to Voscoti, but it won't work on me! You can't make me crack!"

Red X's eyes narrowed, but before he could speak again, he heard loud thumping coming from outside the room... the men he'd left on the dance floor would arrive inside the office in mere seconds, and X would find himself trapped and with no hope of extracting any information from this vital man. If he didn't do something soon, his entire night would be completely wasted... with no chance of being able to obtain the Crisis Crystal.

He grabbed Barrington by the collar of his shirt, then leapt onto the man's desk and shot out an X that hit the ceiling, expanding into a large, X-shaped hole. He leapt up into the hole, taking the man with him as the two emerged onto the building's roof, the hole closing just as Barrington's guards dashed into the office.

"Where the hell did they go?" shouted one of the guards, noticing a chair overturned but little else to give any indication of the whereabouts of either the thief or the man they'd been hired to protect.

Up on the roof, Red X quickly dragged a furiously struggling Barrington over to the edge, where he then shot an X-band to entrap the man's arms before attaching a sticky substance to Barrington's back and dangling him off the roof, with the thick, sticky goo being the only thing keeping the man from painfully impacting the concrete. The screaming man hung face down, about twelve feet off of the ground... certainly not a fatal fall, but definitely enough to perhaps break a leg or two, certainly a nose and a jaw, and definitely cause the loss of a lot of blood.

"You scared of heights, Mikey?" asked Red X, leaning over and talking condescendingly to the large man from which he was dangling by a thread... a long, red, sticky thread. "Of course not, you work in office towers, this kind of height is nothing for you."

Barrington didn't know if X was serious... but he knew a fall from that distance would certainly hurt, and began thinking twice about protecting the location of the Crystal.

"Even if I do... tell you where the crystal is... that boat, that boat's guarded by a hundred men... FIVE hundred men, you'll never-"

"I could probably find out which boat it was, there aren't _too _many huge boats at Jump City Harbor, and probably only one of those boats is going to be as heavily guarded as _your _boat," said Red X. "I need to know where that CRYSTAL is going to be... and a way to get there without having to deal with those five hundred men you just told me about. And if you don't give me a way, well..."

To make his threat perfectly clear, Red X allowed the thread of sticky material he was keeping Barrington suspended by to drop one feet... then two feet, then quickly raise back up to its original height. It was clear to Red X that the man he was holding up was becoming more and more nervous by the second... and just like Voscoti, he knew Barrington would crack... it was just a matter of time.

Time, apparently, that Red X didn't have. Suddenly, the door leading to the roof opened up, and four men emerged... not the twenty-four who had pursued Red X to Barrington's office, but the first four men that Red X had taken out in order to get there. They emerged onto the roof, guns drawn, and Red X quickly lifted Barrington back up to the roof and set him down, the bands still keeping his arms tightly to his sides.

"I thought I already dealt with you guys," said Red X, forming a small metallic X on each of his hands and using them to block the bullets that started coming in. _"At least there's only four of them... I can handle four." _

As soon as X gained a respite from the bullets, he blasted the four men with an explosive X, knocking them all off of their feet. Before the men could stand, he was right on top of them, quickly disarming the guns from their hands and battering the men with a flurry of punches and kicks that kept them at bay.

The men's training enabled them to land a few blows on Red X, but his technology gave him an advantage that the four security guards couldn't overcome. One by one, the guards were incapacitated, whether it was by X-bands that trapped their arms, sticky goo that immobilized their bodies, or in one man's case, an elbow to the face that knocked him unconscious, the men were no match for the skilled thief, who was now able once more to interrogate Barrington. But the four men had offered him a distraction, and now Red X could hear the sound of a helicopter, rotating overhead. When he looked toward the center of the roof, he saw Barrington, his arms now free, climbing a short rope ladder up into the passenger compartment of a black helicopter marked with the Pinnacle Industries company logo.

"You son of a bitch!" shouted Red X, attempting to take down the helicopter by firing an explosive X at its blades... which did little but make a small explosion as the material of the blades completely withstood the force of the blast. The copter lifted up into the sky, and Michael Barrington, along with any chances Red X had of an easy route to the Crisis Crystal, was now gone. _"Shit..." _

Knowing that he had little time to berate himself before the rest of the guards showed up, Red X quickly made his escape from the building, climbing down the sides and dashing out into the street, using the alleyways and the darkness to quickly find his way home.

_"A hundred men... five hundred men..." _

Even if Red X found the boat tomorrow night, retrieving the crystal from its heavy security would be no small task... even for the greatest thief in Jump City.

O-O-O

The same task confronting Red X would also be confronting the Teen Titans... and as they sat in the main room of Titans Tower, contemplating their next course of action, none of them knew for certain whether or not their mission would be a success.

Raven, who was seated on the couch, having her sore shoulders rubbed by a melancholy Starfire, was, as usual, the most pessimistic of all.

"It's clear that Red X went to that building to get closer to the Crisis Crystal... the man that he'd tied to that forklift clearly had something to hide. I could sense it just by looking at him... and I think he knew exactly where Red X was going tonight."

Robin didn't have to be an empath to know that Derek Voscoti had been keeping a secret... but the more Robin thought about why Red X would want the Crystal, the more he wondered why the thief would go about taking it without the Titans' assistance.

"We wouldn't even _know _about the Crystal if Red X hadn't come here and told us last night," said Robin, something that still shamed him. _He _was the Titans' leader... he was supposed to be the detective of the team. If there was a plan to destroy Jump City, Robin was supposed to be first to know about it... and he'd been beaten to the punch by Red X, just an ordinary kid with a streak of kleptomania. These things weren't supposed to happen on Robin's watch... but they _were _happening, quicker than Robin could stop. "If he was going to steal it for himself, why the hell would he-"

"Better us get it than the people who _really _want it," said Cyborg. "Maybe he figured that if he couldn't get the crystal himself, he'd rather have us get it and stop the men who want to use it to revive Terra and destroy Jump City. His family does live here, after all."

"Cyborg is correct..." said Starfire, her fingers gently attempting to remove from Raven's muscles and tendons the pain that Red X had caused with his dangerous drop kick maneuver during the fight he and the Titans had had earlier that evening. Beast Boy had offered to give Raven a massage, but she wouldn't hear of it... and only allowed Starfire to do it when she realized how skilled the Tamaranian was at performing it. "Despite... despite the fact that he is sometimes selfish and out for himself, Red X still has a good heart, and-"

"And he'd want me to be able to revive Terra," replied Beast Boy. All through this past twenty-four hours, from when he'd first heard about the Crisis Crystal and how it could revive his lost love Terra, he'd been thinking about her... already, he could hear her voice again, feel her arms around him, and sense the warm feeling he got whenever she was nearby.

"This isn't _just _about Terra," said Robin, determination in his voice. "It's about our city... and what's going to happen if that crystal falls into the wrong hands, whether it be the hands of those six men plotting to revive Terra, or into the hands of Red X, and whatever _he's _planning to do with it. The only way we can make sure Jump City stays safe is by getting that crystal tomorrow night, whether we know where it is or not. We can't let ANYONE take the crystal from Jump City Harbor... not without a fight."

The other Titans nodded in agreement. Beast Boy was last to nod, and while he _did _want to protect the city, and certainly protect Terra from being used for evil again... there had to be a way to revive Terra without her becoming a soulless zombie.

_"Terra... I promise you, tomorrow night you're going to be safe... you're going to be alive, and you'll finally be able to make your own decisions again... just like when you decided to save the city from Slade."_

O-O-O

Sanza slept that night, though it was an uneasy sleep... he had no way of knowing if he'd be able to steal the Crisis Crystal... his best hope of an easy catch had just barely slipped out of his grasp, and he'd be heading to Jump City Harbor completely in the dark, with not just the dangerous Baddalax security officers to deal with, but perhaps the Teen Titans as well.

The thoughts of that night's impeding heist kept slipping into his head all day long, especially during school, when he had little to think about except the day's boring lectures and that night's daring thievery.

During second period that day, Sanza had chemistry class, his only class that he had together with Rob, Marcy, _and _Cleo. Another of his friends also attended the class... Steve, from the previous night at the club... someone that Sanza knew he may have a bit of trouble facing. Did Steve possibly know of Sanza's secret? He hadn't seen Sanza leaving the club with him, did that tweak his suspicions enough?

"Sanza?" whispered Steve, poking him on the shoulder as the teacher instructed the students to flip to chapter twenty-seven of their textbooks. When Sanza didn't respond, Steve poked him again, and finally Sanza turned his head. "That was _insane _what happened last night... glad to see you're okay, I didn't see you running out so I assumed you must've gotten lost in the crowd..."

"I'm fine, just... what the heck was that maniac _thinking_?" Sanza whispered. "Attacking a party with teenagers present..."

"You remember, Sanza, that maniac once saved my life..." said Cleo, a smile on her face. Sanza smiled back, remembering that fateful day at the Fall Festival when he, as Red X, managed to save Cleo's life from a falling Ferris wheel. It had been the one time Cleo had been endangered by Sanza's secret activities... and, he hoped, the only time. "I'm just glad you and Steve got out okay. I'm still kinda baffled as to why Red X would want to attack a church party, though..."

By now, the teacher had heard the disruption, and was staring straight at Cleo, his ruler repeatedly tapping against his shoulder.

"Since you know _so _much about Red X," asked the teacher, "perhaps you'd like to tell the class the three main chemicals that comprise the material Xynothium."

Once a top-secret government miracle polymer, Red X's exploits had attracted serious media attention to Xynothium, and the secret about it had been out for months... in some places, especially Jump City, Xynothium was a household word, like uranium and plutonium had been in the 40s and 50s.

"Um... Xynothium?" Cleo stammered, struggling to come up with a good response. "Um... I think..."

Not wanting to see his girlfriend get in trouble, Sanza quickly leaned over and whispered the correct answer to Cleo... hoping that the teacher wouldn't catch him. Fortunately, Sanza's assistance went undetected.

"Um... titanium, carbon, and... proactinium?"

"Correct, the proactinium being what gives it many of its unstable properties," said the teacher, who began drawing out a diagram on the board of Xynothium's chemical makeup. "Once considered a miracle polymer by the government scientists who discovered it, it's now viewed with infamy because of the numerous criminal activities surrounding its use, in particular the exploits of the thief Red X, who recently broke into an office building in downtown Jump City..."

As the teacher continued to speak, now mostly facing the board and drawing his diagram, Sanza and his friends considered it safe to talk once more.

"You _really _bailed me out there," whispered Cleo, planting a quick kiss on Sanza's cheek. "How did you know what the answer was? That's like something only the uber-nerds in the school are supposed to know..."

"Yeah, Sanza, is there something you're not telling us?" asked Marcy, her hand gently brushing back her dirty blonde hair.

"Like... have you been hanging with _nerds?" _whispered Rob, his elbow repeatedly nudging Sanza's side. "C'mon, have you?"

Sanza began laughing, barely quiet enough to avoid attracting the teacher's attention a second time. He shook his head, knowing that there was no way his friends could know his _real _secret. Let them think what they will, he'd much rather have them thinking he'd been hanging out with nerds than thinking that he was Red X.

Unlike the Titans, Sanza's friends were none the wiser.

O-O-O

And at home, neither was Sanza's family. His mother, seated in the living room, was the first to greet Sanza as he walked through the door, his backpack, loaded with books, draped over his shoulders. He set the backpack down under the kitchen table, briefly walking into the living room to say hello before starting up the stairs toward his room.

Before he reached the top of the stairs, he heard the door open again... and Maddy stepped into the kitchen, followed by one of the boys in her own class. The boy, just a couple inches taller than Maddy, had been the same boy who, just a few months earlier, had attempted to run out and stop Slade's robots from abducting the girl. He'd received a hard smack to the face for his efforts, and was the last to see Maddy before the door of the van she'd been placed in was slammed shut.

"Um... afternoon, Maddy's mom," said the boy, a bit nervously. She smiled and gave him a wave, before her attention returned to the television screen.

"She's got a name, Bradley... it's Maria, but yeah, I guess you can call her 'Maddy's mom' if you want," said Maddy, smiling as she and Bradley ran up the stairs, past Sanza and up to her room. She briefly looked down at Sanza after she passed him, giggling slightly. "Hi, Sanza!"

After the kidnapping incident, Bradley couldn't bear to look at Maddy for the next few days, racked with guilt about not being able to do anything to help his friend. He'd honestly taken the whole thing worse than she had, and Maddy decided after about a week of watching him feel sorry for himself to talk to him. After a long talk, Bradley no longer felt quite as guilty, and the two had been fairly close ever since. Whether the two were actually 'going out' was a subject neither of them would comment on... at twelve, they were both too young to be going out on dates anyway.

Once Maddy and her friend had made it to her room, Sanza finished his walk up the stairs, entering the hallway and walking into his own room. He closed the door, locking it behind him... then removed his shirt and began punching at the large punching bag in the corner repeatedly.

He was feeling nervous about what he was going to do that night... the ship out in the harbor, guarded by hundreds of well-trained men... but exercise quickly shook Sanza out of his nervousness, and he worked the punching bag for over an hour, before finally his mother entered the room. When she saw her son, covered in sweat as if he'd been sitting for some time in a sauna, her eyes widened a bit, not used to seeing her son work out so much.

"You... feeling okay?" asked Maria. "I'd reach over and feel your forehead, but I'm pretty sure you're going to feel hot anyway, from the looks of you... this can't be the penance Father Abuela gave you to perform this week, is it?"

Sanza shook his head, and leaned up against the punching bag, attempting to catch his breath. After several seconds of heavy breathing, he finally began to speak.

"Just... felt like exercising, that's all," said Sanza, looking straight up into his mother's eyes. Naturally, she began to assume that he was training for a fight... but after going several months without hearing of her son doing such a thing, her suspicions quickly faded. Maybe it was stress that was getting to Sanza...

"Spring break is in a couple of weeks, do you have any projects due, or...?" When Sanza shook his head, Maria began trying to think of another reason her son could be so stressed out. "Something else is bothering you, isn't it?"

Sanza couldn't tell her... not about what was _really _bothering him. He could never let her know that he was Red X... it wasn't as if she'd stop loving him, she would _always _love him, no matter what he did with his life... but she still wouldn't understand, and Sanza knew it would give his mother grief if he told her that he was nothing but a common criminal.

Then again, Red X was HARDLY a common criminal... he was one of the most _un_common criminals around... the only criminal that the Titans had never been able to stop. At least... the only criminal besides Slade.

It would be up to one of the two criminals that the Titans could never stop to take down the _other _criminal that the Titans could never stop... and the Crisis Crystal was the key. _"That's why I'm going out tonight... to protect my mother and to protect Maddy. Once I have that crystal, Slade will never hurt you again."_

The thought of stopping Slade made a smile come to Sanza's face... and when Maria saw the smile, she decided to leave Sanza and his punching bag alone.

"Well, you just tell me if you need anything..." she said, returning a smile of her own. "I'll be downstairs... just... tell me, okay?"

And with a nod, Sanza watched his mother close the door and leave the room. Then, he resumed punching the bag, in an attempt to work out the last of his nervousness. This would be a job that was going to take every ounce of courage and adrenaline that Sanza had...

O-O-O

The small, bespectacled man who entered Frederick Dullahan's office was awash with excitement, about to receive the most valuable scientific prize of his entire life. In just a few hours, the Crisis Crystal was coming into port at Jump City Harbor, and Dr. Ruell would be there to obtain it.

Standing to the left of the door, Sedaris eyed Ruell with a hint of skepticism... the 23-year-old bodyguard wasn't entirely sure the old man could pull off the huge task he'd been given. It would be up to Ruell to revive the maiden of stone and force her to submit to the will of the Crystal... if he couldn't control Terra, the entire operation would be ruined.

Frederick Dullahan had far more confidence in his master scientist, and he smiled as the doctor entered the room, standing up and walking over to shake the man's hand.

"Only a short time now," said Dullahan, prompting a smile and a nod from the doctor. "Once the crystal leaves the ship, you'll receive it, and my convoy will take you right up to the site of Terra's statue. The quantum computer is already being prepared to be moved out to the site as soon as the crystal is in your hands."

"The ship will most likely come under attack by that damned thief," said Sedaris. "I'm confident my security can stop him, but doctor, I'm going to ask you to be careful out there."

Dr. Ruell simply laughed off Sedaris' warning, turning to the young man with a confident sneer.

"I'm sure your men will keep me safe... and even if they don't, I've got a little something that will _ensure _my safety..." said the doctor, pulling a tiny vial of liquid out of the pocket of the lab coat he was wearing. Inside the vial was a thin, milky white liquid that seemed to fizz up as it was shaken. "I can take care of myself."

The doctor slipped the vial back into his coat and began walking toward the door, exiting past Sedaris, who closed the door behind the doctor as he left.

"Honestly, Sedaris, if you're not entirely sure about your security detail, you can always go out there yourself, and-"

"My duty is to you, sir," said Sedaris, ignoring Dullahan's suggestion to go out to the harbor. "I have the _utmost _confidence in my team... if Red X goes to the harbor tonight, he won't be leaving alive."

O-O-O

Just after sunset, at Jump City Harbor, personnel prepared for the arrival of a large cargo ship at the harbor's largest pier, a wide cement awning stacked high with boxes and barrels. The ship, a large metallic freighter painted a rusty red color, was not marked with the usual 'Barrington Shipping' logo of the other ships that the company owned. For security purposes, the ship had been marked with simply its serial number, spelled out in large white letters and numbers near the top of the ship.

The large stack of boxes at the back of the awning gave several trained snipers the perfect vantage point to pick off anyone who might be attempting a daring raid on the ship. Eight men in all, each equipped with rifles that had scopes enabling them to fire an accurate shot from nearly half a mile.

Unfortunately, their one blind spot was the area immediately next to the bottom of the stack of boxes... and that's where Red X was standing, his back pressed up tightly against the wooden crates, silently waiting for a chance to strike. The scopes built into the eyes of his mask allowed him to see _through _the crates, and so as the huge ship was slowly pulling up to the pier, Red X was able to see the whole spectacle unfold... and the legions of armed guards quickly lining up outside the ship, as well as entering it via the gangplank that had been laid out. Somewhere inside that ship was the crystal Red X was seeking.

_"My familia will never have to worry about Slade again... it's just a matter of time now..."_

The boxes offered Red X cover from both the snipers and the guards now manning the ship, and the thief knew that he would have to find some way to make it inside the ship without attracting any of the guards' attention... or at least without getting shot.

_"This would be so much easier if I could still teleport..." _thought X, looking up to the top of the stack of boxes and seeing the eight snipers walking around on top. _"The longer I take to do this, the more chance there is of those people getting the crystal out of the ship... if I'm going to do something, I need to do it now!"_

Slowly, and as quietly as he possibly could, Red X began ascending the stack of boxes, using sticky red Xs stuck to his hands and feet to climb the boxes up to a level where he could begin taking out the snipers. Now affixed to the back of the top layer of boxes, X waited until all eight men were standing right over the center of a box.

_"If this doesn't work, I'm a sitting duck..." _thought Red X, _"and even if it _does_, I'll need to act quick after the snipers are gone..."_

Once all the snipers were in position, the thief quickly fired an X at the boxes that each of the eight men were standing on. Once the Xs had affixed themselves, the tops of all eight boxes disappeared, and the men fell into the boxes, taking their guns with them. As soon as the men were inside, the boxes resealed themselves, and now the men were trapped. The sounds of the snipers' screams and attempts to escape the boxes drew the attention of the guards outside the boat, and as soon as they realized the snipers were gone, about half of the guards made their way around to the back of the boxes.

_"Now this is really the moment of truth," _thought Red X, leaping on top of the boxes and looking down at the twenty or so guards still positioned in front of the boat. Immediately, they went for their weapons, but Red X was much faster. "I'm getting on that boat, and none of you can stop me."

Several explosions engulfed the guards, and in the chaos and smoke created, X leapt down from the tall stack of boxes and began running toward the gangplank of the ship, using the special vision sensors in his mask to see through the smoke. He was fired upon several times, but the visibility on the ground had fallen to near zero, and X was soon through the smoke and running up the gangplank onto the ship.

"STOP HIM! WE CAN'T LET HIM REACH THE SHIP!"

By then, all forty or so men whom had been stationed outside the ship were firing into the smoke, but it was just a matter of seconds before the thief had emerged from the smoke and onto the ship. The few men stationed on deck had less than a second of warning as they saw Red X emerge from the smoke. They had no chance to fire, for X had quickly immobilized their arms with binding cables and had made their way inside the interior of the ship itself, through the first door he saw and down a step of stairs into a long hallway.

The interior of the ship was entirely metal, with grated steel floors, iron ceilings and iron walls. X could hear his own footsteps, even as he barely tiptoed down the hallway... but then realized that his movements could likely be confused for those of a fellow guard. For now, he was safe as he made his way down the long hallway with no sign of a guard in sight.

_"As soon as I get the Crystal, I may be able to install it right into my suit... then all I have to do is sink the ship," _thought Red X to himself as he made his way to the first corner. He could hear several guards coming, and readied himself to strike, his fingers pulsating with red electricity. _"I'll have a lot more trouble getting in than getting out..."_

But before the guards arrived at the corner, loud sirens began blaring throughout the ship. Red lights flashed off and on, and a loud, booming voice made its way through the ship's speakers.

"WARNING. THE THIEF KNOWN AS RED X HAS MADE IT ONTO THE SHIP AND IS ATTEMPTING TO STEAL THE CRYSTAL BEFORE THE TRANSFER CAN BE MADE. HE MUST BE STOPPED AT ALL COSTS. USE DEADLY FORCE IF NECESSARY."

_"These damn sirens are deadly force enough," _thought Red X, raising his hands to his ears. _"I've stood right under the fire alarm at school and it was softer than this..."_

The noise that was bothering him was now alerting the guards, who continued on their path and became the first victims of Red X to be taken out inside the ship. They, like the guards on the deck, were tied up with X-bands, making it impossible for them to fire their weapons. Red X casually stepped over them and continued down another hallway, knowing that an object like the Crisis Crystal would likely be kept deep below deck until it was ready to be transferred. He was looking for steps... steps that went down.

The first door he looked into contained several sailors, who were seated at a table in the center of the room, enjoying what appeared to be their coffee break. When they saw Red X, they raised up their hands, having no weapons with which to defend themselves.

"P...please, don't hurt us..." stammered one of the sailors, who'd dropped his coffee on the floor and was now trembling beside the table. With a loud, annoyed sigh, Red X shut the door and continued on down the hallway... right into the path of several more guards, who already had their weapons drawn. Red X quickly phased through a wall to avoid the gunfire, emerging in a large, open room with a door built into the left wall. This room appeared to be a storeroom, and contained hundreds of boxes, as well as hundreds of sacks of coffee beans.

X ran through this room, peering through the small glass window in the door to make sure that guards wouldn't be waiting for him when he emerged. Once he saw that the coast was clear, he opened the door and ran out into the hallway, now unsure whether to go left or to go right. Either way could lead him toward the stairway, but then again, either way could also lead him right into the path of dangerous armed guards.

After a few seconds of deliberation, X ran to the right, and could already hear the sound of numerous feet on the floor nearby, seemingly from all directions. There were guards above him, below him, to the right and to the left. He ran down the hallway and stopped in front of the corner, now faced with the choice of turning left or going through another metallic door, similar to the door through which he'd exited the storeroom.

_"Maybe I should just phase through the floor," _thought Red X, peering through the grated floor and seeing nothing but darkness below. He knew that many compartments of ships like these were tightly locked and sealed off, and if he wasn't careful, he could find himself in an area from which there was no escape... or drop right into one of the ship's engines, which wouldn't be pretty. _"The conventional way is probably a bit better..."_

And certainly, a bit less dangerous. He decided to turn the corner and go left, and immediately saw several guards run past him, quickly dashing down a corridor intersecting the one where he was currently standing. Had any of them looked to their left, they would have seen him... but X still would've had the element of surprise. He dashed past this corridor and continued in the same direction, stopping quickly to check and see whether doors to his left and to his right led to a stairway. None did.

Finally, when X had reached the end of the hallway, he saw two more doors, one leading left and the other leading right. He checked the left door... it led to another hallway, in which five soldiers were standing, their backs to him. X quickly closed this door, and opened the door to his right... and immediately saw a set of metal steps leading down.

_"Jackpot," _thought Red X, jogging down the first set of stairs, turning, and going down several more steps before finally emerging in front of another door. _"One level down... and probably a bunch more to go. But hey, it's a good start."_

He opened the door and stepped out... and immediately received a painful jolt of electricity to the side of his neck. A taser, which the Red X suit did _not _protect him from, sent the thief crumpling painfully to the ground, twitching slightly. Before he could think, or even move, three rifles were being pointed in his face.

"Stop right there," said the holder of one of the rifles, a tall, muscular man wearing what appeared to be a dark green helmet. "End of the line."

_"Shit..." _thought Red X, his vision fuzzy as he looked into the eyes of the men, their rifles just centimeters from his face. He'd come so far... only to be stopped before even getting close to the crystal.

"We were authorized to use deadly force," said another one of the men, glancing over at the man in the helmet, who appeared to be the leader of the squad. "If we try to take him into custody, there's a good chance he could just escape and make more trouble for us."

X's eyes widened under the mask. Were these men serious?

"Hey, you caught me," said Red X, as casually as he could. "No need to-"

"SHUT UP!" shouted the man in the green helmet. "You know, you're right... Red X is a very, _very _dangerous criminal."

The impromptu conference came to a sudden, immediate end when all three men were bombarded with green energy balls, creating a huge explosion that filled the hallway with smoke. Their guns were yanked away, followed by the men themselves, with what appeared to be... metal cables?

_"No way..." _thought Red X, peering up into the smoke. _"Energy blasts and cables like those could only mean..."_

The next figures that Red X could see in the smoke were shrouded in silhouette, five in all... but despite his hazy vision, the thief could immediately discern the identities of his saviors.

The Teen Titans had come to the rescue.

O-O-O

Sorry, no cliffies here... but then again, I guess X's reaction to the Titans' rescue may be a bit of an intriguing plotline. So, will the Titans and X manage to find the Crisis Crystal? Will Terra be revived? Will this chapter get more than one review? Oh, the excitement is mounting!


	5. One Step Behind

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Teen Titans. If I did, this would be on TV and not here.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This doesn't take place in the same storyline as my "Forced Base" and "Fractured Heart" stories, so forget those when you're reading this. Also, about Sanza/Red X: When he's wearing the mask, he's Red X. When he's not, he's Sanza. Simple as that.

SECOND AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a sequel to "The Life and Times of Red X", which is in my profile. Read that before you read this. Also, this fic COMPLETELY IGNORES the events of the fifth season (with the exception of "Go"). For the purposes of this fic, "Things Change" NEVER HAPPENED.

O-O-O

The Teen Titans had arrived at Jump City Harbor just minutes after Red X had, and by following the trail of chaos that he'd created, they'd been able to find him inside the cargo ship... and not a moment too soon. Despite the fact that he'd attacked them just a day earlier, they'd still come to the thief's rescue, and were now facing him as he weakly stood up next to the unconscious bodies of the guards who had attempted to kill him.

"...kid, that was some very slick work you just did," groaned Red X, his body still tingling from the tazer jolt he'd received. Robin's expression did not change, remaining both stoic and serious. "So... why did you help me out?"

"Because I wasn't going to just let you die," said Robin. "But that doesn't mean we're going to help you steal the crystal. We came to stop both you _and _the people who want to use it to revive Terra."

Red X rubbed the back of his head, his fists beginning to clench. Obviously, if he wanted the crystal, he would have to go through the Teen Titans to get it... but none of them, even Robin, looked like they wanted a confrontation.

"What do _you _need the crystal for, anyway?" asked Beast Boy, stepping to the front of the group. As he attempted to place his hand on X's shoulder, the thief pushed past him, bumping Robin as he walked through the crowd of Titans and continued down the hallway.

_"You should know me by now..." _thought Red X, who didn't even stop when another of the Titans raised their voice to ask him of his motives.

"It cannot be the monetary value of the crystal that attracts your attention... there are so many other things that you could be stealing that would be much less dangerous for you to obtain!"

"I _like _the danger," Red X replied, rebuking Starfire's statement as he looked to his left, and then to his right for a door which he could use to get away from the Titans. He continued to walk down the hallway, but Starfire wasn't about to let him leave so easily. She quickly floated over to him, placing her hand on his shoulder.

"You... you nearly died," she said, almost a whisper. Red X stopped, not because of Starfire's words, but because of her touch... her hand expressing a concern he'd only seen manifested in one other person... his own mother.

Red X didn't fear death... Sanza did, but Red X... Red X was a thief, a thief who lived for danger and sought to bring even more danger to those who would dare to stop him. An adrenaline junkie who stole for the sake of stealing, who took what he wanted, when he wanted.

"You know... _exactly _why I want that crystal," he said softly, raising his hand to remove Starfire's from his shoulder.

_"...not for its worth, but for its power..." _thought Raven, immediately picking up X's familial concerns from the emotional vibrations he was giving off. "You want to protect your family, but this _isn't _the best way to go about it. You remember well what happened last time you-"

Red X turned toward the Titans, narrowing his eyes at Raven. He pushed past Starfire and stormed back down the hallway, an anger in his steps that hadn't been displayed since the last time he had fought the archvillain Slade, several months before. Starfire tried to stop him, but in a second, Red X was in front of Raven, his finger in her face.

"You know NOTHING about my family and NOTHING about what I do to protect them... so don't you EVER tell me how I can or can't protect them, because-"

Robin's fingers seized X's wrist, his grip tightly redirecting his hand away from Raven's face and toward his own. After holding X's wrist for several seconds, he slowly released the thief's hand from his grasp, and X slowly lowered it to his side, his attention now focused on the Titans' leader.

"I don't want to fight you... but if you don't leave, you're going to be killed. The crystal is heavily guarded, and you can't handle the sheer numbers of people that they have protecting it. Your weapons, and your skills, and your speed might get you close, but in the end the numbers are going to overwhelm you, and you know it. The _best _way to protect your family is by joining us... we'll get the crystal from this ship and put it somewhere where it can never, _ever _be used to hurt a living person."

Red X couldn't believe what he was hearing. After all the thief had told him, and with the wounds from their previous battle still healing, Robin wanted to form an alliance between the Titans and X... just like the alliance that had been formed to defeat Slade.

Surely the Boy Wonder didn't expect Red X to be a team player... _surely _he expected X to take the crystal as soon as the Titans had gotten him close enough.

_"You can't be serious..." _thought Red X, his mind mulling over the ramifications of Robin's offer.

"Are you sure about this?" Cyborg said quietly, his voice lined with suspicion. "I mean, weren't we just _fighting _him last night?"

Robin knew exactly what he was doing... it was an age-old strategy, to keep your friends close and your enemies closer. If Red X was traveling with the Titans, at least Robin knew where he was... and even _if _Red X tried to pull a fast one and take the crystal out from under the Titans' noses, they'd be right there to stop him. Raven knew this as well, and was confident in Robin's decision... Beast Boy, on the other hand, didn't want to leave Terra's fate potentially in Red X's hands. He gave Robin a quizzical look... but said nothing. Obviously, Robin had a strategy in mind...

And so did Red X. After a few more seconds of thought, he looked right into the eyes of the Titans' leader... and nodded his head.

"I don't trust you guys for a second, but six of us working together can take those guards out faster than just me. I'll stick with you for a while... but don't think that means you can boss me around, Robin. I'm working _with _you, not for you," said Red X, not even offering his hand to shake. Robin didn't say a word, just maintaining his serious expression as he looked into X's eyes, still confident that as long as he knew where Red X was, the thief wouldn't be getting the crystal any time soon.

"Just don't get any of us killed, and we'll be just fine," said Robin, walking with Raven, Beast Boy, and Cyborg down the hall. Red X was a few steps ahead of them, and the first to pass Starfire, who had maintained her distance from the others and had watched the exchange take place, without saying a word. As X passed her, he briefly looked into Starfire's eyes... and she looked at him, just before turning and rejoining her friends as they walked to the end of the hall. She too had many things to say about this mysterious thief, but she, like Beast Boy, kept her thoughts to herself... her only concern at the moment was stopping the crystal from reaching the hands of the people who wanted to revive Terra.

_"I do not know whether you will choose to betray us or not..." _thought Starfire, walking beside Robin as the group walked toward a metallic door at the end of the hallway. _"Whatever happens, know that I will not allow you to bring harm to my friends... if you do, you should expect to feel the full force of my righteous fury."_

But Starfire was also thinking something else... that anyone outside the team who wished to hurt Red X would encounter her fury as well.

O-O-O

Deep within the bowels of the ship, the Crisis Crystal had been mounted on a clear, glass pedestal, surrounded by an M-16 wielding guard on each side, north, sound, east, and west. The pedestal stood at the end of an enormous room, as long as half of a football field, and about thirty feet wide. The vast majority of the center of the room was taken up by an enormous pit, cordoned off by guardrails around its entire perimeter. Inside the pit lay the engines of the ship, the grinding, moving metal parts that gave the huge cargo ship its powerful locomotion. Michael Barrington stood at the end of the pit opposite from the crystal, a walkie-talkie held in his left hand.

"I heard that you had some trouble earlier this evening," came the screeching voice on the other end, belonging to Dr. Ruell. "and that the thief may have boarded your ship. Is that the truth, or-"

"Yes, but my guards are working feverishly to catch him, I assure you," replied Barrington. "I'm going to do whatever it takes to make sure that this transfer goes smoothly. You'll have the Crisis Crystal in your hands in a matter of moments."

There was silence on the other end for several seconds, then the doctor's voice began to sound once more.

"I'll take care of the thief myself if I have to... but from what you're telling me, that won't be necessary."

"Absolutely not," said Barrington. "I'm making the final preparations to transfer the crystal to you as we speak."

O-O-O

Almost directly above the massive boiler room, the Titans and Red X had entered into another storeroom, where right outside lay a hallway bristling with guards. More than a dozen men, armed with assault rifles, patrolled in front of the door, making sure that if Red X was nearby, he wouldn't have very much longer to live.

"Raven, how long will it take you to disarm those men?" asked Robin, crouched next to the blue-cloaked Titan behind a large stack of boxes. He wasn't going to lead his team out into the hall until he was sure they could take out the guards without getting hurt... even the superpowered Starfire couldn't survive a hail of rounds from armor-piercing ammo.

"Just a second or two," whispered Raven, already starting to conjure up a dark energy spell. Nearby, flanking either side of the door, were Red X and Beast Boy. He had transformed himself into a gazelle, and was preparing to charge out as soon as the coast was clear, trampling any guards that attempted to pick up their weapons. Crouched behind the door were Starfire and Cyborg, who would form the first wave of assault after the men were disarmed. Starfire was crouched in front of Red X, who snuck a quick peek at Starfire's lower back and behind before looking back up to the door, trying to focus on the task he'd been given.

_"I'm not really an ass man anyway," _thought Red X, _"but if I was, I'd definitely give her an eight."_

Just then, the men out in the hallway could feel their assault rifles becoming _extremely _heavy. One by one, the guns fell to the floor, glowing with black energy that Raven was focusing outward from her mind and through the steel door. As soon as Robin gave the signal, Starfire and Cyborg ripped open the door and charged out into the hallway, Starfire turning left, and Cyborg turning right. The two bombarded the guards they were facing with a hail of blasts, knocking some out while causing others to scramble for cover.

Red X and Beast Boy were next out the door, each peeling a separate direction and taking down the guards that remained. As a gazelle, Beast Boy was easily able to knock any guard he charged into to the ground, while Red X used a combination of martial-arts moves and binding cables to take out anyone who got too close. Soon, the few guards still able to run were in a full retreat, dashing out of the smoke-filled hallway just as Robin and Raven made it out into the hall. The attack was over in just twenty seconds... the Titans had proven to be victorious.

"Quick, down this way!" shouted Robin, gesturing to the right, a direction which none of the remaining guards had gone. The other Titans quickly followed, while Red X slowly lagged behind, stepping casually over the incapacitated men that had been left lying in the hallway.

_"No need to rush, it's not like reinforcements are coming..." _thought Red X, who couldn't have been any more wrong. As the Titans reached the corner, they were repelled by a concentrated, quick burst of heavy gunfire. Hundreds, if not thousands of bullets, came at them in less than a second, sending all of them fleeing back into the hall from which they'd came.

"We are under attack!" screamed Starfire, crouching into a defensive position as a massive, metallic gatling gun was suddenly wheeled into the hallway they were in, with three soldiers standing behind it to push it along. Before the next burst of gunfire came, Raven formed a psychic shield that blocked the bullets and saved her fellow Titans' lives, as well as the life of Red X, who crouched down right behind the other Titans and let out a cry of shock.

"WHO THE HELL BRINGS A GATLING GUN ONTO A CARGO SHIP?" shouted Red X, a sentiment immediately echoed by Beast Boy, whose body began to tremble as more bullets ripped into Raven's energy shield.

"Someone who doesn't want us getting to the cargo, _that's _who," replied Raven, her voice straining as she struggled to maintain the shield protecting herself and her friends. "I can't keep this up much longer, somebody's going to have to take them out before they fire again!"

And that someone was Starfire, who quickly got up and ran around Raven's shield, charging headlong into the gatling gun and the men who were manning it. Robin's eyes widened under his mask, his concern and worry immediately mounting. Red X was concerned too, and almost got up to stop her... but Starfire knew that she was the only one who could stand up to the bullets and protect her friends.

Her eyes narrowed, her eyes began to glow, and energy formed in her hands, just as another hail of bullets came screaming out of the gun. The bullets impacted her body, but did not pierce her skin, as they would have had they hit any of the other Titans. She stumbled forward a bit, but reared back her fist and leapt into the air.

The scene seemed to play out in slow-motion... Red X let out a gasp, and Robin let out a scream. All the Titans had seen the bullets hit Starfire's body, and even as she punched and kicked the three men away from the gun, none of them could know how much damage the Tamaranian had truly taken. After the men were disabled, Starfire blew up the gun with a single Starbolt... then immediately fell to her knees. Raven took down her energy shield, and Robin rushed to Starfire's side, his hands quickly wrapping around her waist. She grimaced in pain... her outfit had been ripped in several places, and bruises and welts covered her skin, but she was mostly unharmed, and Robin's touch quickly neutralized whatever pain she might have been feeling.

"Starfire... that was..."

"Completely foolish," muttered Red X under his breath, silently thankful that Starfire had taken such a great risk to save everyone's lives.

"Way to go, Starfire!" cheered Cyborg, pumping his fist in the air as Robin slowly helped the Tamaranian girl to her feet. She gave him a smile, then quickly returned her focus to the task at hand.

"We must hurry to the crystal..." said Starfire, using her hand to cover up some of the uglier bruises on her stomach. "Let us continue..."

The Titans turned the corner and started down the other hallway again. This time, Red X kept up with the group, following them until they found another set of stairs that led them downward to a lower level of the ship. The whole time he and the Titans were running, the thief couldn't help but think of what might have happened had he encountered that gatling gun _without _the Titans beside him. Would he have escaped it? Found a way to disable or destroy it?

Or would he have turned right into a hail of bullets and met his end? All of those were possible. The group of six emerged from the stairwell and into another hallway... this time, a surprise ambush of guards would _not _be waiting for them. The long corridor was empty, its numerous doors standing unguarded. It was quickly becoming evident to both the Titans and Red X that the bulk of the guards would most likely be concentrated around the crystal itself... and in order to find that, they would have to keep going down.

"We're still a ways away from the crystal..." said Robin, attempting to discern whether he should lead his team to the left, or to the right. The other Titans, and Red X, stood behind him, waiting for him to make a decision. It was likely that both ways would eventually lead to a way down into the ship... and whatever path would take them there quicker was likely impossible to tell.

"Let's just hurry and start moving already!" said Beast Boy impatiently, knowing that every second that the Titans delayed the search for the crystal meant another second that Terra could potentially be in danger.

"Calm down, Beast Boy..." said Raven, quietly waiting for Robin to make his decision. She too was eager to start moving again, but she didn't want to encounter another large group of guards... not so soon after expending a good portion of her energy to protect the group from a hail of gunfire. "We're _going _to find the crystal..."

"We'll go this way," said Robin, pointing to the left and dashing down the long hallway, his boots making a metallic clang with each step they took across the grated steel floor. The Titans and X followed him, with the thief once again choosing to lag a couple of steps behind the group. Starfire looked back at him every few seconds... his head was down, and he appeared to be planning something... obviously a plan to steal the crystal once the Titans had led him to it.

She wasn't going to try to reason with him... she'd tried before, and he'd repulsed her. Only a select few times had Sanza, the person behind the mask, been open with Starfire about his feelings... about his motives... and about the people he'd sworn to protect.

Red X caught Starfire looking back at him, and raised his eyebrow, which she couldn't see under the mask. She knew, however, that from the way his eyes remained on hers, he knew that she'd been found out.

"I will not let you take the crystal..." she said quietly, in a tone that almost beckoned a response. Red X didn't offer a reply, and Starfire turned her head, just as the Titans came up to another stairwell, this one leading both up and down. A metallic sign next to the doorway read 'Master Stairwell: All Levels', which immediately triggered an almost celebratory response from Beast Boy, who knew that he'd just come a lot closer to seeing Terra again.

"We did it, this'll take us right to the bottom!" said Beast Boy, victoriously pumping his fists. Robin and the others were a lot less eager... they knew that on the bottom floor would likely be an entire swarm of guards... all of them determined to take out anyone trying to reach the crystal.

"Everyone, get ready to meet some _serious _resistance..." said Robin, withdrawing his bo staff and extending it to its full length.

"The belly of the beast, I can't wait!" said Cyborg, charging the plasma cannon built into his arm, which took on a bright, blue glow. For Red X, it was time to prepare for two challenges... the task of fighting through a slew of guards, and the task of both grabbing the crystal and escaping the ship without the Titans stopping him.

_"This is it... for you, mom, and for you, Maddy... I promise I won't let you down."_

O-O-O

Inside the large engine room, Barrington now stood on a balcony, overlooking both the pit, the pedestal, and the room's only entrance, a metallic door all the way across the room's wide expanse. All four men who had been guarding the crystal had already left... and now, the shipping magnate stood poised on the balcony, almost expecting someone to come right through the door at which he was staring.

The sound of loud explosions, gunfire, and metallic crashing from outside the room confirmed Barrington's suspicions that someone was indeed coming into the room. The Titans and Red X were just outside, meeting resistance from the twenty or so guards who had stayed to protect the bottom of the ship, and the crystal inside. The Titans handled the guards on the bottom floor almost as quickly as they'd handled the guards in the hallway above, and soon, the door of the engine room came flying open... and Red X rushed inside, dashing toward the wide, open pit, and the glass pedestal that stood just across it.

But on the pedestal where the crystal had once sat, now there was only nothing... and Red X stopped in surprise, just a few feet away from the edge of the pit.

"Surprised, thief?" shouted Barrington, immediately drawing Red X's focus up and to the balcony. "I'm afraid you're a bit too late... the transfer has already been made."

The Titans were the next to enter the room... led by Robin, they immediately headed toward the spot where Red X was standing... and, as he was doing, looked up to see Barrington taunting them from the balcony.

"Well, this is a pleasant surprise... do your job, Teen Titans, get this thief out of my sight!" Barrington said, pointing straight at Red X.

Robin took a quick look at Red X... then looked back up into the balcony, right into Barrington's eyes.

"Actually... we're with _him_," said Robin, pointing at Red X with the tip of his bo staff. Barrington, who had heard earlier that the Teen Titans were among the group that was taking out his guards, wasn't surprised at the news. He simply chuckled, and his finger moved toward a button on a large control panel in front of him. The Titans suddenly heard the door behind them, the entrance through which they'd entered the room, close and lock with a loud metallic clang.

"I know," replied Barrington, the smile not leaving his face. "And I will tell you the same thing I just told your rogue friend here... you're _too late_. The crystal is gone."

Now, Beast Boy, who could no longer contain his rage at these men who had had the _audacity _to force Terra into their evil bidding, stepped forward, his right hand tightly clenched into a fist. Almost trembling with rage, he walked past Red X, looking straight up toward the balcony and launching into a furious tirade.

"HOW DARE YOU!" shouted Beast Boy, shaking his fist up at the man on the balcony. "You might think of Terra as only a weapon... a weapon for your sick schemes... but she's not a weapon at all! She's a human being, and she was my BEST FRIEND! She sacrificed her life to protect this city, and for... for you _bastards_... for you to use her to try and destroy it again... for you to use the girl I love..."

Beast Boy's voice began to break, and Red X quickly looked over at him, his eyes widening under the mask. Tears had formed in the changeling's eyes, and as he struggled to stand, his knees began to buckle.

The other Titans looked on, all of their hearts going out to their young comrade, whose dearest friend was in dire jeopardy of being made into a soulless weapon.

"Beast Boy..." said Cyborg quietly, taking a single step forward and reaching out his hand, having heard so many times from Beast Boy about his experiences with Terra... and the memories he still had of her.

"Love is useless," replied Barrington, almost with contempt, "because it is powerless and weak. What _we _are trying to achieve is much more than you could EVER comprehend. We will use your precious Terra as the cornerstone of a new foundation of power for this country, something that will make us rich and powerful beyond our wildest dreams! And none of you are going to foul it up..."

Barrington's finger slowly drifted to another button on the control panel... and suddenly, the entire room was shook by a loud, violent explosion from the large pit in the center of the room. The explosion contained such force that it blew both Beast Boy and Red X backward, causing them to land on their backs right in front of the other Titans, who had to shield their faces to block away the heat from the large fireball now rising from the center of the room.

"What in the world...?" groaned Red X, painfully peeling himself up from the ground. _"What the hell did he just DO?"_

What Barrington had done... was to blow up the ship's engines with a bomb that had been planted several weeks before, as a safeguard should the ship be compromised by a hostile force. In place of the engines now stood a fiery, molten, sparking hole from which there was no escape. The entire room was still shaking, and even Barrington had to struggle to keep his footing.

"I'll see the rest of you in hell," said the shipping magnate, pressing another button on the control panel. The walls on the left and right sides of the rooms opened up in several places, and in each place where the walls had opened, a large, silver cannon slowly protruded out, its barrel ready to fire.

"Titans, move! NOW!" shouted Robin, just as the first volley of cannon fire lit up the room. The Titans quickly scattered to either side of the room, avoiding both the fiery pit and the large projectiles shot out by the cannons, which created a moderate-sized explosion as soon as they impacted the floor. While Robin, Beast Boy, and Cyborg broke to the left, Red X and Starfire broke to the right... Raven stood her ground, watching as Barrington attempted to flee via a door that had just opened up at the back of the balcony he was standing on.

Just before he could exit the room, a swirling gate of darkness opened up in front of him, and Raven emerged, her eyes glowing solid black.

"You're not going anywhere," Raven said, anger in her voice. "A captain always goes down with his ship."

A violent kick to the chest sent Barrington flying over the end of the balcony, screaming as he fell. He landed hard on his back about fifteen feet away from the pit, the wind having been knocked out of him. Another volley of cannon fire lit up the room. Beast Boy transformed into an ankylosaur, using his thick, plated body armor to shield Robin and Cyborg from two projectiles as they came close.

"Nice work, Beast Boy," said Robin quietly, looking up toward the balcony where Barrington had been attempting to exit from. "Can you get us up there?"

Beast Boy nodded, transforming into a pterosaur and gesturing for Robin and Cyborg to climb onto his back. Meanwhile, as Red X was running down the right side of the room, he could feel strong arms looping around his shoulders and lifting him into the air.

"I am going to carry you up to the balcony," said Starfire, wincing briefly as the room's cannons let out another volley.

"Thanks," Red X replied, almost before he even knew what he was saying.

"You are most welcome."

Starfire's tone had softened from earlier, when she'd admonished him about attempting to take the crystal... a crystal that had almost become secondary to the mission of mere survival, which the fiery pit in the center of the room was making very clear. The ship didn't have much longer before it would sink into the harbor.

A single gunshot rang out, and Starfire let out a loud, piercing scream, immediately releasing her hold on Red X and dropping him to the ground. She clutched her left shoulder, from which a trickle of blood was slowly oozing out, and began floating to the ground, grimacing in pain. Barrington stood just a few feet away, holding a silver pistol in his right hand.

"Four eighty-six Ruger, diamond bullets... even an alien superheroine can't take a hit from one of these," said Barrington, a smile on his face. The bullet hadn't gone through Starfire, or even lodged inside her... but it had penetrated several layers of flesh, and she'd definitely felt its effects.

Watching from the balcony, Robin wanted to leap down to go to Starfire, but a hand on his shoulder gave him pause. He looked back and saw Raven, slowly shaking her head.

"I can't let that guy get away with-"

"Starfire can handle him," Raven replied quietly, watching as her alien friend took a deep breath and slowly returned to a standing position. _"I should've gone down there myself and made sure he wasn't armed... I'm just glad he didn't have an even _deadlier _weapon..."_

_"Dammit..." _thought Robin, his teeth tightly clenched. _"She's right, if I go down there I'll be exposed to the cannon fire... but we need to hurry and get out of here, right now! Not only to save ourselves, but... if whoever has that crystal now is still here, we have to stop them!"_

But Red X was also still down on the main level of the room, and he dashed toward Barrington, not carrying that the enhanced gun he was carrying still had five bullets left in the chamber... and one of them had the thief's name on it.

Barrington pointed the gun right at Red X's forehead, and put his finger on the trigger. At point-blank range, the thief's head would shatter like a watermelon from the impact of the bullet... but the wily businessman never had the chance to fire. Red X's elbow smashed right into Barrington's throat, and he stumbled back, the gun drifting to the right and discharging a bullet harmlessly in the wall. As Starfire looked on, Red X rained a shower of blows on the businessman, bringing him to one knee with a punch to the gut.

"You... you little punk..." gasped Barrington, his trembling hand leveling the gun toward Red X's head once more. With a single kick, Red X disarmed the man, knocking the gun from his hand and sending it skidding across the floor, coming to a stop a few feet away from the large, smoldering pit. Then, he struck Barrington across the face with a punch, sprawling the man out across the floor.

"Looks like you're out of the shipping business," X remarked, turning to Starfire and briefly glancing at the wound on her shoulder. "You okay?"

Starfire nodded, walking over to Red X and placing her arms around his waist.

"I will bring you up to the balcony, and then come back for him..." said Starfire, gesturing to the man lying sprawled out on the ground just a few feet away.

"Just hurry up, this place is about to blow!" Cyborg called out. By now, the cannons lining the room had run out of ammunition, but the bomb in the engines had caused a fire that threatened to destroy the entire ship... and the smoldering flames in the pit were growing higher and higher with every second.

The crystal was probably long gone by now... neither X nor the Titans had ever had a chance of retrieving it... even if X hadn't joined up with the Titans in the first place, he wouldn't have gotten to this room any faster, and he knew it.

_"It's because of them that I even made it to this room alive..." _thought Red X, looking into Starfire's eyes. _"And because of her that _any _of us made it..."_

Barrington's hand closed tightly around the grip of the Ruger lying on the floor... he could feel the flames from the pit lapping his body, and he knew that he had to kill at least _one _of these kids... he couldn't let them escape without knowing _exactly _the kind of people they were dealing with.

He slowly rose to his feet, and pointed the gun at Red X's head. X, his back to Barrington, didn't see the man pointing the gun at him... but Starfire did, and she reacted almost immediately. She raised her hand and fired a Starbolt at Barrington's hand, knocking the gun out of his hand and sending it flying into the pit. He stumbled back, clutching his hand in pain... and was immediately engulfed by an enormous explosion that ripped through the center of the room. The ship's fuel tanks had been exposed to the heat, and were now starting to ignite. Starfire screamed and tightened her grip around Red X, carrying both of them rapidly up to the balcony as flames began filling the entire room.

"LET'S GO! NOW!" screamed Robin, leading the Titans and Red X through the door at the back of the balcony, and up a long, winding staircase. A violent rumbling shook the entire ship, and flames engulfed everything behind and below the group of six, who emerged into a hallway somewhere toward the center of the ship. By now, all the guards had evacuated, and so the Titans would meet with no _armed _resistance... but the ship was like a maze, and all of them were in grave danger.

"I'll get us out of here," said Raven, stretching out her arms and struggling to focus her energy despite the violent and intense sensations taking place all around her. "Azarath, metreon, zinthos... azarath, metreon, zinthos..."

O-O-O

The explosion of the giant cargo ship ripped apart the concrete pier and tore up a large portion of the harbor itself, destroying several other ships docked nearby and shaking the entire area with a violent rumbling that could be felt for several hundred feet around. The massive fireball could be seen all over the city, even from the Salazars' apartment building, about a mile away.

Raven had brought the Titans and Red X to the front of the harbor's control center, which was rattled but not damaged by the huge blast. She collapsed to one knee, having exerted a great deal of energy to get them all out of the ship. The mission had been a complete bust... both literally _and _figuratively.

"What... what are the chances that the crystal was destroyed in that blast?" Cyborg said, only half-seriously. The other Titans sadly shook their heads.

"They already passed it off..." sighed Beast Boy, sadly bowing his head. A tear came to his eye, and he gently wiped it away, before rubbing his eye with front of his arm. _"Terra... I'm so sorry... I completely failed you..."_

Starfire and Robin stood side-by-side, both of them having fought valiantly to keep the crystal out of enemy hands... and had ended up barely achieving their own survival. Robin tightly gripped Starfire's hand, his fingers interlocking with hers... and she returned the gesture, glancing over at him.

"All is not lost," said Starfire, attempting to raise the spirits of her friend. "It will take them some time to revive Terra... if everything that we have tried has failed, then..."

"Starfire's right," said Robin. "That crystal might not even work... and if it does, Red X already said that they'll need to interface it with their computer. This is a complex operation... we've still got work to do. We need to return to the Tower and draw up a plan for battle... we're not letting them bring back Terra without a fight."

Red X stood off to the side, a good distance away from the other Titans. He glanced over at them, before looking up into the night sky, his hands resting at his side.

_"And I'm not letting them keep that crystal..." _thought Red X, not flinching as a small army of firetrucks, police cars, and ambulances raced down to the harbor to deal with the urgent situation of the burning remnants of the cargo ship. He turned to the Titans and slowly began pacing toward them, his voice casual as he spoke. "I'm coming back to the Tower with you."

X's words surprised both Robin _and _Starfire, who turned in the thief's direction and wondered why, after he'd been reluctant to follow them into the ship, that he would so quickly agree to continue the hunt for the crystal.

"I'm not going to let those dicks use it to destroy the city," said Red X, still maintaining little emotion as he continued. "If they revive Terra, she'll be just as dangerous to my family as Slade was."

Robin stepped forward, until he was just a couple of feet away from X.

"You're really going to help us fight them?" asked Robin, prompting Red X to nod.

"I wouldn't do _anything _if it didn't benefit me, kid," replied Red X. "There's strength in numbers... so do you want my help, or not?"

A smile slowly crossed Starfire's face. She too stepped forward, and Robin stepped aside to allow her in front of Red X.

"It is wonderful that you have decided to help..."

The tone in Starfire's voice, and the expression on her face had both changed... with every hint of kindness Red X showed her, a bit of warmth returned to Starfire's heart. It was something about her that Red X couldn't stop admiring... the fact that the girl never gave up on him, never lost hope that despite whatever he did, he could still be a good person.

_"What is it about me that... that makes her so willing to forgive whatever I do to her?" _thought Red X, staring into Starfire's shimmering green eyes. _"...does she _know _I'd never... I'd never want to hurt her?"_

The mixture of emotions... the lust and the love, all flooding into Red X's mind at once... it was weakening him, and he quickly had to block it out. Slowly, he managed to focus himself and stammer out a few words.

"Y...yeah, I'll help you," said Red X, turning away from Starfire and looking back over to the site of the smoldering cargo ship. Somewhere in that wreckage was the ashes of one of the six men that Red X had seen in that room... one of the evil businessmen who'd been planning to destroy Jump City was now dead... and, Red X hoped, was burning in Hell. _"Judge not lest ye be judged... but I already know what _your _eternal judgment is going to be. Guilty, guilty, guilty."_

Slowly, the Titans and Red X began to make their way away from the harbor... it was Beast Boy remained behind, his head still bowed as he tried to keep all the thoughts of what might happen to Terra out of his mind. A hand gently brushed his shoulder... it belonged to Raven, who was gesturing with her head toward the harbor's entrance.

"The sooner we get back to the tower, the sooner we can go save Terra..." said Raven. Beast Boy didn't respond... he gave Raven a brief, sad look, then bowed his head again.

Raven began to rebuke Beast Boy, but then again sensed the pain raging inside of him, and instead of yelling at him, simply used her hand to turn his face toward hers.

"Listen," she said, as quietly and in as understanding of a tone as she could. "I promised you that I wouldn't let them use Terra... I still intend to keep that promise. I'll fight them all myself if I have to..."

Beast Boy nodded his head, and finally began walking with Raven toward the entrance to the harbor.

"I'm not gonna let you fight alone, Raven... I'll be right there... we'll _all _be there... Robin's right, there's still hope, there's _gotta _be!"

The familiar, optimistic Beast Boy was starting to return, and for a brief moment, Raven actually cracked a smile, thankful that the person with the greatest connection to Terra hadn't yet given up the fight.

"She's counting on you Beast Boy... she knows you're not going to let her down. _I _know you're not going to let her down."

The two continued to walk down the sidewalk, closely behind Red X and the other three Titans. He could see Starfire lift Robin up from the ground and begin flying off with him, and knew it was about time to take flight as well. The two of them stopped, and Red X and Cyborg turned to them, waiting their turn to be picked up.

"Just... tell me one thing, Raven. You don't usually seem like the encouraging type, so... these past few days, why have you been so-"

"Because you needed it," said Raven, walking over to Cyborg and taking off, carrying him by the shoulders. _"That's the only reason..."_

O-O-O

"I'm not detecting anything at the site where Terra's statue is..." said Cyborg, monitoring for any signs of life in the area where her stone body had been resting. "And the statue's still there, so-"

"They wouldn't have gone there right away, they'd be expecting that," replied Robin, "plus, as I said earlier, they'll need time to get everything set up... which gives _us _time to get ready for when they DO move in."

In the main room of the tower, Robin and the other Titans had been talking for the past half-hour, discussing the best way to prevent Terra from being awakened by whoever possessed the crystal. Obviously, they would then want to retrieve the crystal and revive Terra themselves... but that was the secondary objective, and even Beast Boy knew that protecting the city came first. Red X leaned against a pillar nearby, listening in on the conversation but offering no input of his own. He'd go along with whatever plan the Titans came up with... all while remembering that he had to make sure to grab the crystal for himself whenever he got the opportunity.

After a few more minutes, Robin called for a break to the meeting. The Titans would reconvene in the main room in fifteen minutes time... he needed to be alone to figure out a battle strategy that would allow for the Titans to use their powers to the fullest without risking the destruction of Terra's statue. Cyborg remained with Robin to assist with the planning, while Raven and Beast Boy both departed from the room.

Starfire, however, decided to make one stop before leaving for her own devices. She walked over to the pillar where Red X was still standing, and began speaking to him.

"You seem disinterested," said Starfire, "perhaps even sad... I assume that you were going to use the crystal to enhance the powers of your own suit, am I correct?"

Red X nodded slightly, sliding down into a sitting position against the pillar. Starfire sat down next to him, her legs crossed Indian-style in front of her, her hands touching the front of her knees.

"I can't protect my family from Slade..." said Red X, his voice almost a sigh. "Not with this suit alone... but that crystal... that crystal has the power to reshape cities... it has the power to-"

"Assume that you were able to somehow use the crystal with your suit... assuming that you _did _have all of its power, would it truly be enough? Terra had to sacrifice herself to destroy Slade, just as you would have had to. Even with your powers combined... I am not entirely sure it would be enough to overcome him."

"Of _course _I could beat him," said Red X, his voice rising slightly. "Maybe _individually _we would've had to sacrifice ourselves to defeat Slade, but... someone with the power of BOTH Terra and I..."

Starfire shook her head, reaching over and placing her hand on X's shoulder.

"And... and who is to say that Slade would not... that he would not attempt to place your family in a situation where if you _used _powers like that to destroy him, it would be risking their lives as well?"

"What do you mean?" Red X replied, almost indignant that Starfire would imply that his family would be endangered again. "What do you mean by-"

"In working with Robin, I have learned many, many things... including that you must be able to think like your enemy. Suppose that Slade learned about your powers, and that he was able to capture your family again... and that he placed him in the same room where the two of you would be fighting. With powers like those of Terra, which control earthquakes, landslides, and volcanoes... anything that you could possibly do to Slade would endanger your family as well."

Starfire's logic was a bit complicated... but the more Red X thought about it, the more sense it made... Slade was brilliant, there was no denying that... and he, like Red X, could adapt to the powers of all the Teen Titans... so what was stopping him from adapting to anyone else's powers as well?

Red X stood up, leaning against the pillar for several seconds, his head facing the pillar, deep in thought.

"I... I do not wish to discourage you, but... I just... I just wish for you to understand that there is little point in stealing the crystal..."

X turned around and looked at Starfire, staring at her for several seconds. Then, he walked out of the room, without saying a word. She didn't attempt to follow him, but merely watched as he left down a hallway, a concerned look on her face. She glanced over at Robin and Cyborg, who were kneeling around the coffee table, both of them working at a laptop and discussing possible plans for the battle ahead.

Of all the people she never wanted to fight again, Red X remained near the top of her list... right below Robin.

_"I am fully aware of the horrible evils that Slade can bring about... I have witnessed so many of them before."_

O-O-O

Starfire's words had given Red X something else to think about... and if she was right about the crystal, if she was right at no matter _what _powers he had, Slade would always have a way to respond... then the thief needed to figure out a new plan, and quickly.

It was as he walked down the hallway that he saw Beast Boy, slumped against a wall, a serious look on his normally jovial face. He stopped beside Beast Boy, who turned and looked at X, his voice quiet as he spoke.

"What do you want?" Beast Boy asked. Red X simply chuckled, placing one hand on the wall next to Beast Boy and leaning in toward him.

"You seem disturbed at the moment," X replied, removing his hand from the wall and returning to a normal, standing position. "You know that there's no way in hell I'm gonna let those guys bring back Terra to knock down _my _family's house, right?"

Beast Boy nodded, still frowning as he leaned back against the wall and looked into Red X's masked face.

"You still just want the crystal for yourself, I bet," said Beast Boy. He expected Red X to nod, but when the thief shook his head, it brought an exclamation of surprise from the green changeling. "...you don't?"

"Well, there _is _another way to protect the city... and to protect Terra," replied Red X. It was a plan he'd just figured out, and he knew that Beast Boy wasn't going to like it, so he might as well get on with telling him. "We need to destroy the statue."

"ARE YOU NUTS!" Beast Boy shouted, immediately charging toward Red X, their faces now just inches apart. "There's no way I'm going to do that!"

"You love her, don't you? Spare her the agony of being used as a weapon and just let her rest in peace... if the statue's destroyed, they've got no chance of bringing her back."

It was an ugly solution, and even Red X didn't want to resort to destroying Terra to protect the city... but it was the only way to ensure his family's safety, and, he knew, Terra's as well. Beast Boy was still furious, enraged that Red X would even suggest such a terrible thing. He was about ready to punch Red X right in the face... already in a bad mood from having let the bad guys get away with the crystal earlier, X's suggestion had brought him right to the brink of a physical confrontation.

Beast Boy managed to calm himself down, turning away from Red X and placing his arms across his chest.

"Don't even _think _about it," said Beast Boy calmly, his teeth clenched. "I can't believe you'd even-"

"Forget I even said anything," replied Red X, sighing and turning back down the hallway from where he'd come. "...I know how much you care about her, but-"

"Then you should know that I would never, ever want to destroy her..." said Beast Boy quietly. _"...even when she'd told me to do it..." _

X knew that Beast Boy wouldn't like his suggestion, and the response he'd given hadn't surprised the thief one bit.

It would be up to the Titans, then... up to the Titans to protect the city, and ultimately, to protect Terra from a truly horrific fate.

And up to Red X to protect his family.

O-O-O

The stars shone brightly in this part of town... away from much of the lights of the city, away from the sounds of the traffic and the people and the chaos... a serene place, a ground that radiated energy whenever one set foot upon it.

Red X had visited this place once before, and now, in the darkest night, his way barely lit by the stars and moon, he was visiting again. Under most of the structures of Jump City, past a vast, grassy field, there was a stone pathway, swirling down into the earth and leading to the spot where a volcano had once threatened to destroy the city and all of its inhabitants.

On this spot, where the volcano had once been, stood a beautiful girl, forever frozen in stone. Terra, a Teen Titan, a true friend, stood silently, her arms outstretched, her sightless eyes gazing heavenward.

_"I am truly, truly sorry... but this has to be done. To protect my family and to protect this city."_

The lesser of two evils... the destruction of Terra to bring about Jump City's salvation. As Red X descended down the path, the statue slowly came into view...

Along with several other shadowy figures that Red X never expected to see, but recognized almost immediately.

_"Baddalax security guards!"_

Nearly a dozen in all, these guards surrounded the statue... while standing several feet away, next to a tall, metallic computer mainframe, was an old man with scraggly white hair... Dr. Ruell. On a stone pedestal next to the mainframe, with several wires and electrodes connecting it to the computer, was the very object the thief had been seeking... the object of power, now glistening in the dim light of two metallic lamps illuminating the area... the Crisis Crystal.

And the crystal was glowing... glowing brightly, small sparks shimmering off its quartz-like surface. Overlooking this horrific scene was Red X, his eyes now wide and terrified under the mask.

He was too late.

O-O-O

The moment of truth... Terra's about to be revived, and NOT the way that anyone would've wanted! It's up to Red X to stop the evil doctor from unleashing Terra on the helpless denizens of Jump City... is he REALLY too late, or is there some way to stop the plan from unfolding? You won't want to miss the next chapter!


	6. Shattered Earth

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Teen Titans. If I did, this would be on TV and not here.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This doesn't take place in the same storyline as my "Forced Base" and "Fractured Heart" stories, so forget those when you're reading this. Also, about Sanza/Red X: When he's wearing the mask, he's Red X. When he's not, he's Sanza. Simple as that.

SECOND AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a sequel to "The Life and Times of Red X", which is in my profile. Read that before you read this. Also, this fic COMPLETELY IGNORES the events of the fifth season (with the exception of "Go"). For the purposes of this fic, "Things Change" NEVER HAPPENED.

O-O-O

It had been a perfect plan... go right to the statue after the handoff. The Titans would suspect that Ruell and his men would've waited... and the signal jammer planted into the ground would confirm those suspicions for the Titans if they decided to scan the area for signs of life.

As sparks began lifting from the crystal, Dr. Ruell slowly walked over to a keyboard placed near the mainframe box and began furiously typing instructions into the quantum computer. A few seconds later, golden lightning began to arch from the crystal to Terra's statue, which continued to glow brighter and brighter with every moment.

"The natural processes that fused her body with the earth are rapidly reversing... she'll be revived in just moments now..." said Dr. Ruell, excitement mounting in his voice as he turned toward the brightly glowing statue. Small pebbles on the ground nearby began to vibrate, and occasionally the ground would issue forth a violent jolt. "It's happening!"

Red X knew he had to act quickly... there were only a dozen guards, certainly enough to give him a challenge, but not enough to stop him if he worked quickly. He had to find a way to stop Ruell from reviving Terra... even if it meant his own life.

The thief leapt down from the stone walkway, landing about ten feet away from where the first of the guards were standing. Everyone in the area, including Dr. Ruell, turned immediately to where Red X had landed.

"You were foolish to come here," said Dr. Ruell, continuing to work at the computer console as more electricity began sparking from Terra to the statue. "Kill him!"

The guards broke from their formation around the statue, facing Red X and beginning to fire. He leapt up to avoid the first volley of bullets, shooting several shuriken Xs in an attempt to disarm some of the guards. Rapidly dashing toward the men, X rolled to the side to avoid another burst of gunfire, then launched a chain-like apparatus from both of his palms, swinging the chains like whips against the guards' chests and knocking them off their feet.

He quickly leapt into the air again, attempting to fire an exploding X at the statue, only to have it prematurely detonated by an arc of electricity slamming into it and triggering it to explode a few feet away from its target. The doctor issued a loud laugh as some of the guards stood up, their weapons still in hand.

"Don't you see?" shouted Ruell, as the guards began firing at Red X again. "You're too late!"

X barely paid attention to the doctor. Instead, he lifted up his arms and formed a metallic shield in front of his body, causing the bullets to be blocked up against it. As soon as the guards stopped firing, the shield charged toward them like a battering ram, knocking them down again and causing them to drop their weapons. When the X had disappeared, all twelve guards were on the ground, either stunned or unconscious... and the thief was now standing just six feet away from Terra's statue.

All that stood between him and the Crisis Crystal was Dr. Ruell, now standing in front of the computer mainframe, the crystal held in his hands. It had stopped glowing, and the electrodes had been detached from both it and the statue.

"You're gonna put that crystal down, old man... or I'll show you why I'm the most feared thief in Jump City."

Dr. Ruell simply grinned, his stained teeth clearly showing against the glow of the dim light shining down on himself and the statue.

"I'll do nothing of the sort... and I'm about to show _you _why I'm known as the most brilliant scientist in the world. In fact... I think I'll show you right now."

A violent tremor shook the ground, bringing Red X to one knee and forcing his attention toward Terra's statue... which was now beginning to crack from the base up. As the cracks formed, a bright, red light shone outward from them... the same red light now glowing from the Crisis Crystal, which had once been yellow in hue. The eyes of the statue began to glow a brilliant, blood red... and Red X could only watch in horror.

_"Oh my god... it's happening..."_

The rock fell away from the statue, and now, hovering in the air, her arms still extended outward, her gazed focused on the heavens, was Terra herself, now fully reborn. Scraps of white fabric, part of the outfit Slade had placed on her body to control her, flowed outward from her body as if blown by a faint wind. The bronze nameplate that once read 'Terra: A Teen Titan, a true friend' now lay on the ground, the only remnant of the fact that the girl had once been stone.

Slowly, the blonde girl's head lowered... until her gaze was focused on Red X, who brought himself back up to a standing position. Terra's once beautiful blue eyes were now glowing a solid red... the same color as the crystal. Her teeth were clenched tightly.

"I told you that you were foolish to come here... and now, I'll demonstrate why. Terra, annihilate him!"

And like a soulless puppet, Terra obeyed, her hands immediately drawn inward toward the center of her body. As she moved her hands, the ground again began to shake, and a large fissure appeared in the ground, right beneath Red X's feet. The violent shaking knocked him to the ground again, and he landed in a sitting position, just as the ground below him began to split in two.

Quickly, X placed his hands on the edges of the fissure, forming a large metallic X that gave him a platform to sit on and kept the gap in the rock beneath him from growing any wider. He leapt away from the platform and fired an X at Terra's arms, hoping to bind them to her sides. She swung her arms forward, lifting a rock from the ground that destroyed the X that the thief had fired, then lifted up another rock and flung it right into Red X's chest. With a cry of pain, X was thrown violently backwards, skidding on the ground before landing on his back some distance away.

_"I have to find a way to stop her..." _thought Red X, fighting for his life as Terra threw more stones at him, rocks the size of baseballs and basketballs. He managed to dodge a few of them, but took several hits, including hits to his right arm, his stomach, and the side of his face. He nearly fell again, and Terra charged him, swinging her foot into his knee and causing X to let out another painful scream.

Unlike when Terra was serving under Slade, her body controlled by the neural impulses transmitted to her by the suit she was wearing, while her mind remained her own, under the control of the Crisis Crystal, Terra was completely transfixed, both her body and mind controlled by the glowing relic, its power over her thoughts and actions absolute.

She was a soulless killing machine, and at the moment, her target was Red X. He stumbled back toward a rock wall, his body continually battered by the stones that Terra flung his way. Every time he would lift his hand to fire out an X, he would find himself smashed by another rock, and his concentration broken. It would only be a matter of time before the thief would succumb to Terra's assault... and he would pass out, where death would surely follow.

Red X wasn't about to let that happen. Terra had him backed up against the wall, and suddenly, X could feel the wall itself come alive, a set of stony hands reaching outward and wrapping around his arms and chest, pinning him in place. More hands burst out from the wall and encircled his legs, keeping the thief completely pinned and helpless.

"Unnnngggh... aaaaaaagh... dammit..." X's struggles were violent, but ultimately futile. He grimaced and groaned as Terra slowly walked toward him, forming a stony sword out of a long, cylinder-shaped rock and holding the sword in her right hand, its stone blade dimly glistening. "Fight him off! Don't let that old guy control you!"

X's plea caused Dr. Ruell to let out a loud, hearty laugh, the crystal still cradled in his right hand.

"It's not me controlling her... it's the crystal... the _crystal _is what I control. She can't fight it... it owns her life! She's a slave to its awesome power... and you're about to be cut open," said Dr. Ruell as Terra leveled her sword at Red X's neck, the blade aimed directly at his throat.

_"I don't think so..." _thought Red X, clenching his fists as Terra thrust the sword forward. At the last moment, the stony hands holding the thief burst open, showering Terra with rocks and a thick layer of gooey xynothium. X's hands were glowing brightly, red electricity sparking up and down his arms. He lifted his hands, and his wrists blades quickly materialized. "Now it's my turn."

With an inhuman war cry, Terra lunged forward, her stone sword coming down right at X's head. X parried with his wrist blades, and the hard metal made two large cracks in Terra's sword as it impacted them. X swung his blades forward again, and as soon as the blades made contact with Terra's stone sword, the stone crumbled to dust. Terra stepped back and lifted her arms, extending her palms and lifting herself up on a tall, rocky platform that carried her nearly thirty feet into the air.

"That's _hardly _fair, you know," said Red X, his blades disappearing. He slammed both of his hands into the base of the pillar, and in less than a second, an explosion ripped through the structure, causing a violent jolt that knocked Terra right off the top and sent her plummeting to the cold, stone ground. At the last moment, she managed to coalesce some of the debris of the pillar around her, forming a platform under her body that softened her landing. X leapt onto this much shorter platform, firing several exploding Xs downward toward the geomancer and engulfing her in a ball of fire. Her body was blasted backward, her head smacking hard into the large wall of stone behind her. She let out a quiet moan, and her eyes began to close. "You were saying, doctor?"

Dr. Ruell simply smiled... with Terra completely under the crystal's power, she would feel no pain... and no fear. Her eyes opened again, as solid red as ever. She stood up and ran toward Red X, who immediately lifted his right hand and blasted Terra backward with another X. This X caused Terra to slam into the wall again, her arms tightly pinned by the metallic bars that it formed as it embedded itself in the rock.

Terra's teeth clenched as Red X began walking toward her. She thrashed for a second, before the ground began to shake once more, and a large section of the cliff face above broke loose, sending a huge, van-sized boulder plummeting downward at the thief. With a cry of surprise, X leapt out of the way, managing to avoid the boulder as it impacted the ground and showered the area with dust and debris.

_"Should've known she'd pull a move like that..." _thought Red X, coughing as the thick dust swirled around him, blocking out his vision. When he could see again, he looked at the spot on the cliff face where he'd pinned Terra... only to see a large, cracked hole punched in the rock where she had once been. "Dammit..."

A huge rock slammed into X's back, knocking him face-first onto the ground. He gasped, before feeling two knees press tightly down into the small of his back, keeping him pinned down. When he brought his head around to look up, he could see Terra staring right at him, kneeling on top of him and holding a rock in her hands, raising it above X's head.

Thinking quickly, X struck out his fist, catching Terra in the nose and knocking her off of him. She quickly stood up, a small trickle of blood dripping down from her left nostril. With another loud war cry, she rushed forward, just as X stood up and slammed his foot right into her face. She stumbled back, and the thief went on the offensive, battering Terra with a series of blows that sent her reeling.

"If you're not gonna come around on your own, I'll just have to knock the sense back into you!" shouted X, striking Terra with an uppercut to the jaw. She let out a moan, then fell to the ground, on her back. Her eyes were still glowing bright red, and she bore an expression of rage on her face. It seemed that X's beating wasn't doing the job. _"What's it gonna take to bring her back to her senses?"_

"It's useless to try and fight the crystal!" shouted Dr. Ruell, drawing Red X's attention away from the blonde girl lying at his feet. "She's completely under its control... and soon, you'll be completely in the ground. It's just a matter of time now!"

_"The crystal..." _thought Red X, his eyes gazing at the bright, glowing red rock held in the doctor's hand. The brief diversion had focused X's attention away from Terra... which would turn out to be a huge mistake. Suddenly, he could feel a rock smash hard against the side of his head, and he was immediately sent to the ground, landing in the same prone position that Terra had been in just a few seconds earlier. She was now standing over Red X, and above her head was another large, van-sized boulder. Her gaze was fixed on him, and she was completely focused... in just a second, Red X would be crushed. _"Oh, shit."_

"TERRA!"

The cry diverted Terra's attention to the outcropping above, where she saw someone who hadn't seen her alive in nearly ten months... someone who loved her dearly, and wasn't about to let her become a slave to evil again.

It was Beast Boy... and he was repeatedly calling Terra's name.

"Terra, don't do it! Don't-"

And she didn't. Instead, she sent the rock at Beast Boy, aiming for him but managing to hit the section of the cliff immediately under him instead. The rock smashed against the cliff, crumbling it and tossing Beast Boy forward... he was now plummeting nearly a hundred feet to the ground. He quickly morphed into a hawk, floating to the ground and landing just a couple of yards away from Terra, detransforming and looking right into her emotionless, soulless red eyes.

Beast Boy's mouth was wide in shock. He'd been too late... and now Terra was a far cry from the Terra he'd once loved... the Terra who'd been his best friend. Her face was twisted with apparent rage, the features of her eyes erased by the red glow now illuminating them.

She was a helpless slave to the crystal... and now she had a new opponent to face.

"Beast Boy, look out!"

Red X's warning came too late, for as soon as he'd spoke, Terra's hands slammed into Beast Boy's chest, shoving him down to the ground. Dr. Ruell watched with glee, overjoyed that he was getting a front-row seat to the first test of his new city-destroying weapon.

"Terra, c'mon... this isn't you, I _know _this isn't you!" shouted Beast Boy, using his hands to scoot himself backward along the ground as Terra slowly walked toward him, several small rocks levitating around her glowing body. Beast Boy was pleading with Terra, pleading with her to somehow snap out of what was currently controlling her mind... but there would be no 'snapping out'.

"I already tried that, Beast Boy!" shouted Red X, standing up and extending his wrist blades. "We're not gonna just snap her out of it, we have to fight her!"

But Beast Boy wasn't about to hurt Terra, especially if she couldn't even control her own actions. He soon found several rocks raining down on him, pelting and bruising his body as he tried to stand. One rock hit him right in the forehead, and its effects were evident right away, as blood began trickling down Beast Boy's face from the open wound that the rock created.

Red X, deciding he'd seen enough, ran up behind Terra and attempted to stab her in the back with his wrist blade. She detected him, quickly spinning around and knocking Red X off his feet by lifting the ground beneath him and rapidly lowering it, jettisoning him in the air as if he'd been hit by a giant spring. Terra floated up on a rock to meet him in the air, her hand reaching out and clenching tightly around his neck.

"Terra, STOP!" Beast Boy shouted, transforming into a fly and landing on Terra's shoulder, only to be casually swatted away as one would smack a real fly. Red X thrust out his legs, hitting Terra in the stomach and causing both of them to fall backward, off the small rock that Terra had been standing on. The two hit the ground at the same time, landing hard on their backs as Beast Boy detransformed inbetween them, his entire body aching from being smacked away by Terra. _"Oh no, she's hurt!"_

Instead of checking on Red X, who had hit the stony ground hard and was stunned for several seconds, Beast Boy ran over to Terra, who stood up to face him, her eyes narrowing as he tried to reason with her.

"Please, Terra..." Beast Boy's voice was failing, and tears began to pool in his eyes. His fists clenched, and he briefly reached up to his face. "C'mon... you always had a choice, Terra... don't-"

The ground beneath Beast Boy began to liquefy, as Terra used her powers to turn the solid stone under his feet into a fine quicksand. When his legs began to sink, he let out a scream, still looking up at Terra with a pleading expression on his face.

Red X ran to Beast Boy's aid, forming a long, metallic chain, which he extended to Beast Boy like a rope, hoping that the Titan would grab it. Beast Boy simply continued staring at Terra, ignoring the chain that dangled tantalizingly in front of him as his stomach and then his chest sunk beneath the liquefied rock.

_"Dammit, I have to do this myself..." _thought Red X, blasting Terra with multiple exploding Xs that knocked her away from Beast Boy, causing her control over the ground to stop and Beast Boy to immediately stop sinking as the liquefied ground hardened around him. Now, only his head and his hands could be seen, the rest of his body encased in rock.

"Good going, X!" shouted Beast Boy angrily, unable to even turn his head. "Now I'm _completely helpless!"_

"Maybe I should've let her cover up your mouth first," replied Red X, kneeling on the ground next to the trapped Beast Boy and pasting down several small Xs on the ground next to him. "I'm gonna blast you out, but-"

Another rock slammed into the back of Red X's head, knocking him away. He turned to see Terra facing him, standing on a stone platform that had been raised about eight feet in the air, making her impervious to a direct ground attack.

"Enough fooling around, let's finish this right now!" shouted Dr. Ruell. Terra extended her arms, and the ground again began to shake. A fissure opened up beneath Beast Boy, dislodging him from the ground with a scream as he fell under, disappearing into blackness. The fissure continued, shooting toward Red X at an amazing speed. Knowing that running would be useless, he focused his attention on Terra and tried to knock her off the platform by shooting her with several exploding Xs. She stopped them by simply levitating rocks from the ground to intercept the projectiles before they could even get close to her.

Then, with a loud scream, Red X fell as well, disappearing beneath the fissure and plummeting into the depths of the Earth. Terra descended from her platform and looked toward Dr. Ruell, who was now signaling for Terra to conclude the battle.

"End it," he said, and Terra nodded, slowly bringing her hands together and causing the fissure to close. Right before the rift in the ground snapped shut, a green falcon, with Red X grasped in its talons, burst from the fissure and set the thief gently down on the ground before detransforming and standing up next to him. "Damn it, you weren't quick enough!"

"Do you... see... now... why we need to fight her...?" gasped Red X, his hand clutched to his chest. Clearly, the experience of nearly falling into the earth had shaken him, and he was grateful just to be alive. Beast Boy looked at Red X sternly, then returned his gaze to Terra, his eyes sadly wincing.

_"I... I can't bring myself to... to hurt her... not after I said I'd never hurt her in the first place..."_

But Terra's eyes were still bright red, and it was clear that she wasn't about to come to her senses anytime soon. The number one priority wasn't to save Terra... it was to stop her from hurting anyone else... including Red X and Beast Boy, who were fighting just to survive.

As much as it pained Beast Boy to admit it... Red X was right. The two would have to fight Terra to have any hope of survival.

"Try not to kill her," said Beast Boy, transforming into a bear and charging toward Terra. Red X gave him a nod, watching as the green bear tackled Terra hard to the ground, its powerful paws pinning the girl's arms beneath them.

_"I'll do my best," _thought Red X. Beast Boy roared in Terra's face, his claw lifting up to strike her. With a loud cry, Terra jolted the ground beneath both of them, throwing Beast Boy off of her and into the air. He detransformed, landing on one knee and preparing to charge at Terra again.

Terra raised her arms, causing four huge pillars to burst out of the ground, surrounding Beast Boy. The pillars rushed toward him, but before they could crush him, he turned into a gorilla and punched through two of them, letting the other two smash harmlessly against his body. He rushed at Terra, striking her in the face with his powerful fist and knocking her several steps back. Showing a great deal of agility, Terra came right back at Beast Boy, leaping over him and landing beside him, forming another pillar of rock that she shoved into gorilla Beast Boy's back, causing him to be smashed against the pillar and the nearby cliff face. She turned around and found herself looking straight into the eyes of Red X, standing less than a foot away.

"Boo," said the thief, launching into another series of punches and kicks that again sent Terra stumbling backwards. Before she could recover, she found herself on the receiving end of a powerful charge from Beast Boy, who had transformed into a rhinoceros and had hit Terra with the broad side of his horn. She flew forward a great distance before landing on her face and skidding along the ground for several seconds, throwing up more small rocks and a large cloud of dust in her wake.

Beast Boy detransformed, feeling a great deal of regret for having just attacked Terra... but he knew that it was for the greater good... and perhaps Terra's own. Maybe Red X was right in thinking that enough of a beating might jolt the girl loose from the crystal's control... maybe it was just a matter of time before she regained her free will again.

She stood up rapidly and turned around, her eyes still glowing. Crying out, she thrust her hands forward and caused the ground immediately in front of her to buckle and form a large wave of earth that rapidly moved across the ground, slamming into Red X and Beast Boy and knocking them off their feet.

Red X was the first to stand, groaning in pain and rubbing the small of his back. He knew that by now, his entire body had probably sustained some degree of bruising... he didn't know how much longer he could fight Terra, who seemed to bounce back from everything he and Beast Boy could possibly throw at her.

"Get up," said Red X, looking down at Beast Boy, who stood up and transformed into an ostrich, gesturing for X to climb on his back. _"The hell?"_

Beast Boy looked as if he had a plan... while Dr. Ruell was looking more and more annoyed with every passing second. He wanted Terra to finish this fight quickly, before anyone, namely the other Teen Titans, showed up and further complicated matters.

Reluctantly, Red X climbed onto Beast Boy's back, just as a large rock came flying their way. With his powerful ostrich legs, Beast Boy easily leapt around the rock, and began running in a circular pattern around Terra. Every second, Red X would fire an X at her, while Terra would raise up another rock to block the weapon from reaching her and potentially immobilizing her body.

Beast Boy made several circuits, avoiding Terra's attacks while she in turn avoided the many weapons that Red X tried to fire at her. The three had reached a stalemate, and it was starting to make Red X extremely impatient.

Suddenly, Beast Boy detransformed, shouting 'NOW!' loudly. Red X took the signal, propelling himself off of Beast Boy's shoulders and leaping right at Terra, his arms extended. Before she could attack, he'd already leapt over her... and had bound her arms behind her back with tight X-bands wrapped around her chest and wrists. She lost her balance, falling forward with her legs high in the air... which Beast Boy, transformed once more into a gorilla, reached out and grabbed. He began spinning Terra around, her immobilized arms making it extremely hard for her to channel an attack.

_"If this doesn't jolt her out of the crystal's control, nothing will," _thought Red X, watching Beast Boy as he spun Terra around over and over again, before finally releasing her, sending her flying outward with a huge amount of force. She hurtled into the nearby cliff face, but somehow managed to spin herself around so that her feet hit the cliff first. Her legs buckled, but she leapt outward, her arms bursting from their bonds. She lifted her arms up, causing a section of ground beneath Red X to rise and swing to the right, tossing him away as if he'd been shot out of a catapult. She then landed where he had once stood, staring down the still detransformed Beast Boy before pelting him in the chest with a boulder. He skidded backward, the wind having been knocked out of him. With a weak roar, he detransformed and fell to one knee, as Red X landed some distance away, his body crumpled up next to the mainframe of Ruell's quantum computer.

Beast Boy weakly looked up at Terra, horrified as the angry, soulless look remained on her face. Her arms lifted up, and a large, spiked rock began to materialize above her head, looking strangely similar to the one she'd formed ten months ago in Slade's lair. Beast Boy's leg had been pinned under a rock, and Terra, against her will, had been forced to form another large, spiked rock, which Slade was going to use, through Terra, to crush Beast Boy's head.

Now the situation was the same... except Terra had no free will to speak of, and no hesitation about killing him. Beast Boy's leg wasn't trapped, but in his weak, painful condition, it might as well have been.

"Now extinguish his life," said Dr. Ruell, holding the crystal high up in his hand. Its bright glow drew Red X's attention, and the crystal's close proximity caused the glow from it to nearly blind the thief's eyes.

_"Wait a minute..." _thought Red X, staring straight up at the crystal. _"Of course... how could I have been so stupid?"_

Without a word, Terra sent the rock plummeting downward, aimed right at Beast Boy's skull. His eyes closed, and his head shifted to the side in preparation for what was to come.

The sight of Beast Boy's imminent execution transfixed Dr. Ruell. He grinned gleefully as the rock careened toward Beast Boy's head... not seeing the shuriken headed toward his wrist until it was too late. It sliced across his hand, causing him to let out a cry of pain and causing his grip on the crystal to cease. The crystal tumbled to the ground, shattering on impact. Its red glow disappeared immediately, the shattered pieces reverting to their familiar pale yellow. The glow in Terra's eyes disappeared, and the rock headed for Beast Boy's head crumbled into pieces around him.

"No... NO!" screamed Dr. Ruell, clutching his wounded hand while looking down at the remnants of the shattered Crisis Crystal... and of his shattered dream. He looked up at Red X, who stood arrogantly, his arms across his chest. "You... you ruined EVERYTHING!"

"I know," X replied, looking over at Beast Boy and Terra. The blonde girl who'd once been a complete slave to the crystal had had a sudden rush of awareness... she hovered in the air above Beast Boy, staring down at her hands. Her eyes were wide open, and her mouth was agape in shock.

"What... where... where am I?" muttered Terra softly, floating down to the ground. Her knees buckled, and she nearly fell... she would have fallen had it not been for Beast Boy, his hand tightly gripping around her wrist. Her attention was drawn to him, and their eyes met. "Beast Boy?"

"Terra..." he said softly, the only word his lips could form. Finally, Terra was alive... she'd returned to him... after ten months of stony silence, she had truly been reborn. Memories came flooding back to the girl... and she then collapsed to her knees, looking down at the ground, her entire body trembling.

"I remember... Slade... a volcano, and then... then darkness... and nothing... and..."

The young blonde girl looked almost ready to go into shock. A single tear made its way down the side of her face, almost immediately brushed away by Beast Boy's warm hand. She looked into his eyes again, which were reflecting a look of concern and understanding.

"It's all right now, Terra... you're safe... you're with me... I'll protect you..."

Terra couldn't look away from Beast Boy... his words were reassuring, and slowly, a smile formed on her face. Her body still trembled, but her arms managed to make their way forward, wrapping gently around the back of his neck and pulling her friend close to her body.

Dr. Ruell watched the spectacle in complete shock, fury rapidly forming within his body. Just a few minutes ago, he'd watched as Red X and Beast Boy plummeted together into a hole... and had presumed them dead. Now, they were both very much alive... and his Crisis Crystal was the only dead thing now. The crystal, and the dreams of all the men who had planned Project Shattered Earth, had been completely shattered in an instant.

Slowly, Beast Boy helped Terra to her feet. She continued smiling at him, though she'd expected him to show up with the others. Her mind quickly came to a conclusion... and she looked into Beast Boy's eyes, her smile intensifying.

"You... you found a way to bring me back..."

"No," replied Red X, and for the first time, Terra gained a glimpse of the costumed thief whom she'd heard about only once, during a story Beast Boy had regaled to her about the time Robin had gone undercover to track down Slade.

_"Robin?" _thought Terra, her eyes narrowing as she looked over at Red X, who was now gesturing toward the furious Dr. Ruell.

"Beast Boy didn't bring you back," said Red X, pointing at the doctor. "He did."

Dr. Ruell's hands shook in front of him, as he looked back and forth between Red X, Beast Boy, and Terra, his teeth gnashing in rage. Terra quickly realized that the person who'd brought her back probably didn't have the best intentions for her in mind.

"It's a long story," said Beast Boy... "I can tell you as soon as we get back to the-"

"You three... aren't going... ANYWHERE!" shouted Dr. Ruell, his voice breaking as he spoke, a screeching, shrieking quality to his voice that none of the Titans or Red X had heard before. "You might have buried my dreams... but now... now I'm going to bury all of you!"

The doctor reached into his lab coat and pulled out a small vial, containing a foaming, milky-white substance. Before anyone could stop him, he opened up the vial and drank its contents before throwing the small glass container down to the rocky ground, making a shattering noise as the glass broke into pieces.

_"What the hell did he just do to himself?" _thought Red X, instinctively taking a step backward as Dr. Ruell began cackling loudly. Suddenly, the white hair on the doctor's head completely disappeared, as if being pulled back into his scalp. His arms began to grow wider and larger, becoming large, horrific, muscular brown claws that extended nearly eight feet from his body. Two sets of similar clawed arms burst from his sides, shredding his lab coat in an instant. His legs mutated and grew larger and taller, until the doctor was now a hideous, brownish-red beast nearly eleven feet tall, with six enormous clawed arms, two legs with toes curled into hideous, sharp talons, and a foaming mouth filled to the brim with sharp, saber-teeth. The doctor's eyes had become bug-like in quality, smooth and light green, and his nose had vanished from his face. As the transformation took place, Beast Boy and Terra both watched in horror, their arms tightly clinging around the other's waist.

With a loud, beastly cry, the monster that had once been Dr. Ruell spewed forth a green, acidic substance from its mouth that had the consistency of vomit. The substance melted the rocks it touched, and would have melted Red X had he not leapt out of the way at the last moment.

Terra knew that the creature was dangerous, but the thought of fighting it made her tremble... not because she was afraid of the monster, but because she was afraid of herself and her powers. She'd nearly destroyed the city, and though she'd gotten much better control of her abilities because of what Slade had taught her, she didn't know if she was capable of using her powers for good again... not after she'd hurt the people she cared about.

"Terra, we have to beat this thing!" said Beast Boy, who grabbed Terra's wrist in an attempt to drag her toward the battle. She ripped her arm away, shaking her head, a sad look on her face.

"You take him!" replied Terra.

While Beast Boy was trying to convince Terra to fight, Red X had his hands full, having been knocked to the ground by one of the monster's powerful limbs. He shot an X at Monster Ruell, drenching its upper body in xynothium goo but doing nothing to stop its advance, as its acidic vomit dissolved the xynothium and came straight at X's legs.

_"He's not going to last very long fighting that thing alone..." _thought Beast Boy, who turned back from Red X to the indecisive Terra, her mind racing with all the things that might possibly go wrong should she jump into the fight. "I know you feel terrible about what you did before, but... the last thing you did with your powers was to sacrifice yourself and save the city! You defeated Slade! You saved my life! Don't you remember that?"

Terra _did _remember those things... she wiped a tear from her face and looked at Monster Ruell as it assaulted Red X with long, sharp needles that it was firing out of its forehead.

"I... I still don't know..." said Terra, quietly, meekly, her body still faintly trembling.

"Terra... it's your choice... it's always been your choice... I know you have the strength to take this guy... to help us... but it's up to you..."

Beast Boy spoke softly, not with anger, but with understanding... understanding and kindness, willing to accept whatever response Terra gave. She took another look at Monster Ruell... and her fists clenched. She narrowed her eyes, and a smile appeared on her face.

"All right, Beast Boy... let's go help Robin kick that thing's butt!"

As the two rushed over to assist Red X, Beast Boy briefly turned to Terra.

"Actually, that's not Robin... it's... it's... it's another long story, I'll tell you when we get back to the-"

And again, Monster Ruell interrupted Beast Boy, shooting green lasers from its eyes that slammed into Beast Boy's legs and knocked him to the ground. Immediately, Terra reacted, lifting a large rock from the ground and hitting the creature right in its monstrous face. Monster Ruell let out a cry of pain, stumbling backward with a loud screech.

"Nobody hurts my friends!" shouted Terra, causing a pillar of rock to materialize on either side of Monster Ruell. Before the monster could react, it found itself squeezed tightly between the two pillars, its body painfully compressed before the huge blocks of stone shattered and buried the monster in rubble.

"I am legitimately impressed, kid," said Red X, looking over at Terra before returning his attention to the pile of rubble and waiting for Monster Ruell to emerge. _"Her powers are pretty cool... when she's not trying to kill me with them."_

Monster Ruell burst out of the pile of rocks, emitting another loud roar before extending its arms and shooting out a sonic burst wave in all directions. The wave hit Red X, Terra, and Beast Boy at the same time, knocking all of them on their backs and filling their ears with an uncomfortable, piercing, high-pitched wail. Terra was the first to stand, covering her ears and letting out a scream as Monster Ruell reached out and grabbed her with one of its many claws, lifting her high into the air and digging its sharp nails into her sides.

"You may not be my slave anymore, little girl... but that just means that I won't have any problems with destroying you!" Monster Ruell said, in a voice that was neither male nor female, and certainly no longer human. Terra recoiled at the voice, wincing in pain and trying to use her hands to extricate her body from the monster's grip.

"Unnnggh... your breath is destructive enough..." groaned Terra, unable to free herself with just her hands, and now forced to resort to more serious measures. "You asked for it..."

Her eyes began glowing again, but instead of deep red, they shined a bright yellow, her irises disappearing behind the golden glow. Her straight hair began lifting up, gathering into clumps that nearly resembled spikes as it levitated above her head. By now, both Red X and Beast Boy were up, and watching as Terra's powers once again began to activate.

_"She's not going to try and use the volcano again, is she?" _thought Beast Boy, terror briefly entering his mind. _"No... no, the volcano's extinct now... but then, what is she going to-"_

Beast Boy got his answer when a large stream of mud and rocks burst out of the ground underneath Monster Ruell, causing the creature to drop Terra as he was lifted violently up into the air. The stream disappeared as soon as it had appeared, and Ruell was dropped to the ground a large distance away, landing hard on his back with a cry of pain. The glow in Terra's eyes disappeared, and her hair returned to its normal position.

"That... that felt... kind of good, actually," she said quietly, smiling at Beast Boy, who returned her smile with one of his own, as well as a thumbs-up.

"I'm gonna feel a lot better when I know that that crazy doctor is taken out," said Red X, looking over at where Monster Ruell had fallen. "I have a feeling he's still got some fight in him..."

Slowly, the creature began to stand, briefly shaking its head before running toward the trio at a rapid clip. The three took battle stances, and Beast Boy morphed into a t-rex, roaring at Monster Ruell as it got close. The creature leapt high into the air, and Red X discharged from his hands several exploding Xs that barely seemed to faze the beast as it unleashed a stream of vomit on its three opponents. Red X and Terra, who would be extremely vulnerable to the highly-dangerous acid, were saved at the last moment by Beast Boy, swinging his tail out in front of them and taking the brunt of the attack. He roared out in pain as the acid hit his tail, severely burning into his dinosaur flesh.

"Okay, you're gonna pay for that," said Red X, who leapt at Monster Ruell as soon as the creature landed, extending his wrist blades and swinging twice. X's aim was perfect, and the next thing he heard was an inhuman cry of pain as the creature's two lower arms fell completely off, spraying a large amount of green blood from both sides of its body. The angered creature responded by attempting to headbutt the thief, who slid between Ruell's legs and stuck a large, glowing X to the creature's back.

Meanwhile, Terra and Beast Boy commenced a full-frontal assault, Beast Boy using his sharp teeth to snap at Ruell's head, while Terra pelted the monstrous doctor's body with dozens of rocks, creating large bruises wherever they hit. Monster Ruell ducked, barely avoiding having his head bit off, but that put his cranium right in the path of the largest of Terra's rocks, which caused the monster to become dazed and dizzy, stumbling about for several seconds before hitting the ground hard on his back.

This triggered the X which had been pasted there to explode, engulfing Monster Ruell's body in bright flames and causing a thick cloud of smoke and dust to wash over Terra, Beast Boy, and Red X.

For several seconds, there was silence... which gave the three a chance to catch their breath and look around at one another. Red X's eyes gravitated to Terra, and for the first time, he got a decent look at the girl when she _wasn't _trying to kill him.

She was beautiful... among the prettiest girls X had ever seen, behind only Starfire and Cleo, of course. X could see immediately why Beast Boy took such a liking to her... and why Beast Boy didn't want anything bad to ever happen to her.

"I'm going to be honest, I came here to destroy her statue," said Red X, looking over at Beast Boy.

"I know," Beast Boy replied. "I'd be mad at you, but... I'm just happy that Terra's alive... and that she's safe."

He looked over at Terra, who smiled and gave him the slightest blush... though inside, she was still unsure... guilty about all she'd done to the Titans, guilty enough to feel unworthy of their friendship... even if they _wanted _her back, there was no guarantee that she would go.

When the smoke cleared, it revealed Monster Ruell lying face-down on the ground, its body heavily burned and bruised. Clearly, the assault of Red X, Terra, and Beast Boy had made short work of the mutated doctor... but their sense of security would be short-lived when the creature began slowly rising from the ground. Immediately, the three teens took battle stances... and the monster turned its attention to Red X first, its eyes starting straight into the thief's.

"What are you looking at?" said Red X, his hands pointed right at the monster's face.

"This," replied Monster Ruell, spraying an enormous amount of lethal, acidic vomit right onto Red X, taking him completely by surprised. He screamed in pain as the green liquid engulfed his body, collapsing to the ground with his hands to his face. Immediately, Terra opened up a fissure beneath Monster Ruell, causing him to fall into the ground, with only two outstretched hands saving him from plummeting to his doom.

The monster used its other left hand to grab Terra's leg, causing her to let out a cry of fear as she was dragged toward the open hole in the ground. She kicked at the monster's face repeatedly, but her boot did no damage, even when she struck it right in the eye. It continued to drag her toward the hole, while Beast Boy quickly transformed into an octopus and wrapped all eight of his tentacles around Terra's arms, trying to save her from being dragged by Monster Ruell to her doom.

Red X, still kneeling on the ground, had been saved by his suit. His arms had shielded him from most of the acid, but it had still burned several holes in his suit. Most of the material around his forearms was gone, and one of the eyes of the mask had been completely dissolved, exposing Sanza's left eye, his hazel iris now focusing on Terra and Beast Boy's precarious situation.

_"Gotta do something about that," _said Red X, pulling himself off of the ground and pointing his hands at Monster Ruell again. He shot out two grappling hooks from his hands, which embedded themselves in Ruell's large eyes. While Terra's kicks had done nothing to hurt them, X's sharp hooks impaled in them certainly did, and the monster howled in pain, its arm releasing Terra's leg long enough for Beast Boy to be able to pull her back, away from the creature and out of its reach. He detransformed, and instead of eight tentacles around her arms, Terra now had a set of arms and legs wrapped around them, possessed by a grinning Beast Boy.

"Um... I'm fine, you can let go of me now," said Terra, as Beast Boy quickly unwrapped his limbs from her own. Beast Boy continued to grin, rubbing the back of his head and giving an expression that Terra couldn't resist giggling at. _"Oh, Beast Boy..."_

X's grappling hooks remained in Ruell's eyes, and the doctor was now frantically clawing at the edge of the fissure, blindly attempting to pull himself back up.

"AAAAAGH! You bastard, I can't see! AAAAAAAAAAGH!"

Monster Ruell's loud, pained screams didn't get a response from Red X... who knew that if Ruell was allowed to climb back up, the monster might be able to strike again. He ripped the hooks from Ruell's eyes, and the sudden jolt caused the monster to jerk backward... and his grip on the edge of the fissure to loosen. With a loud scream, he fell into the darkness... and was never seen again.

Exhausted, Red X fell to his knees, quickly tracing the Sign of the Cross on his chest. For the second time in his life, he'd been directly responsible for a death... but then again, it was the death of someone who would likely never be human again... and who had already sold his soul.

Beast Boy and Terra walked over to him, helping him up from the ground. He looked at both of them, before turning to Terra and looking into her eyes once more.

"I suppose... I should tell you who I really am," said Red X, looking down briefly before returning his gaze to Terra's face. She shook her head slowly, her lips curved into a faint smile.

"I guess if you wanted me to know who you were, you wouldn't be wearing that mask," Terra replied. "Still... thank you... for helping me. For helping both of us."

Terra turned back to Beast Boy, and the smile disappeared from her face. Clearly, the guilt that she'd felt upon having betrayed the Titans was now returning... and she felt unworthy to be in Beast Boy's presence. The ten months that she'd spent trapped hadn't been spent entirely in unconsciousness... she'd had dreams, visions... glimpses into her own mind... glimpses that were often unpleasant.

Beast Boy's hand closed around hers... his warm fingers gently caressing Terra's skin. He smiled up at her... and she looked away, a frown still etched on her face.

"Beast Boy... I'm still... I'm not so sure if... if I'm ready to-"

The appearance of four figures on the cliff overhead diverted both Beast Boy and Terra's attention. Standing there, overlooking the reunion, were the other four Titans... Robin, Starfire, Raven, and Cyborg, all of them with smiles on their faces.

"Yo... I can't believe we missed all the fun!" Cyborg shouted, waving at Beast Boy and Terra. Beast Boy waved back, but Terra stepped away, releasing her grip on Beast Boy's hand and looking down at the ground, unable to gaze on any of the other Titans as they slowly descended down into the hole that had once been her resting place. "Hey, Terra..."

"Hey, Cyborg..." she said sadly, still not turning her head. By now, Red X had gone... he'd disappeared without Beast Boy or Terra knowing, and before any of the Titans had been able to see him leave. But right now, the focus wasn't on Red X... it was on Terra, whom Raven could tell was having a serious emotional crisis.

It was Raven who had mistrusted Terra from the start... and, besides Beast Boy, the one who'd been most hurt by her betrayal. She'd managed to get over her mistrust of Terra, and even to befriend the blonde girl... only to have her trust shattered just a week later, when Terra revealed her true intentions as Slade's apprentice.

Raven walked over to Terra and placed her hand on the girl's shoulder, only to have it quickly shoved away.

"I... I don't deserve your trust... or your friendship..."

Beast Boy immediately walked over to Terra, wondering what could possibly be making her so sad again. Just a few minutes ago, she seemed to finally be enjoying using her powers for good again... but now that she'd seen the other Titans, she'd become reluctant again.

"Terra..." he said softly, lifting up her chin so that she could look into his eyes. "I... I know you've done terrible things before, but... but all these months, I never stopped thinking about you... never stopped wishing that you... that you'd come back again... that I could hear your voice again... that-"

Terra lifted her fingers to Beast Boy's lips, gently silencing him before lowering her hand again and turning to the others. Robin, Raven, Starfire, and Cyborg were all facing her with expressions of concern on their faces.

"Beast Boy's right... we _all _wanted you to come back, Terra," said Robin.

"You saved the city... you saved all of us... you managed to fight off the control of Slade and perform the ultimate act of heroism... which is sacrifice," said Starfire, adding to what Robin had said. "I... I know that you are reluctant to come back... reluctant to be a hero again, but..."

Terra looked over to Raven, who had once been the most mistrusting of all. Now, she too echoed the sentiments of her friends in not wanting Terra to feel guilty for her actions.

"But you _are _a hero, Terra..." said Raven, bending over and picking up the small, bronze plate that had once laid at the feet of Terra's statue. "Read this... it was your epitaph."

Terra reached out with her trembling fingers, taking the small bronze plate and reading what had been etched onto it.

"Terra..." she read, her trembling voice almost a whisper, "a Teen Titan... a true... a true..."

Terra dropped the plate on the ground and collapsed to her knees, cupping her face in her hands and sobbing violently. More guilt filled her body... even after she'd betrayed them, attacked them, tried to kill all of them... the Titans still considered her to be one of them... to be a friend... it was completely overwhelming, and for nearly half a minute, Terra knelt on the ground, sobbing at the rush of emotion. Slowly, she could feel arms looping around her body... it was Beast Boy, kneeling down in front of her and attempting to hug her. She stopped sobbing, and then... then reached out and looped her own arms around his body, the two of them standing and embracing just as they had right before Terra sacrificed herself.

"Beast Boy..." she choked out weakly, her head resting on his shoulder. "I'm... I'm so sorry... I..."

"It's all right, Terra... I'm here now..." replied Beast Boy, his own eyes starting to well up with tears. His own guilt began rushing back, and his embrace around Terra tightened... he knew that he too had been responsible for her being turned into a statue. _"It's me that should be sorry..."_

After another half-minute of hugging, the two slowly released their grip on one another, turning to their fellow Titans.

"If you're feeling up to it... we'd like you to come back to the Tower with us, just for tonight," said Robin. "Any decision you make about your future will be up to you, but... know that we _do _consider you a part of this team."

"That's right, I engraved that plaque myself, so I would know," said Cyborg, a smile on his face. "Whatever you decide to do is completely _your _choice to make... not like there's any pressure or anything, but-"

"I... I think I will... go back with you guys," sniffled Terra, wiping a tear from her face. "Just for tonight, then... then tomorrow I'll... I'll figure something out..."

Terra wasn't even so sure that the Titans would let her become a permanent member of the team again... and she certainly didn't know if she would even _want _to rejoin the Titans, even if they would let her. For now, she figured, the best thing to do would be to go back with them... to sleep on it and to make her decision in the morning... a decision which, according to the Titans, was completely hers to make.

As Starfire flew off with Robin, and Raven flew off with Cyborg, Terra interlocked her fingers with Beast Boy's and created a small rock that lifted both of them off the ground and into the air. She turned to him and smiled... and he smiled back, reaching up to wipe a tear from her face.

"No matter what you decide to do, Terra... I'll always support you... I promise," said Beast Boy, his grip tightening on Terra's hand. Terra nodded, and then the rock that both of them were on sailed forward, in the direction of Titans Tower.

O-O-O

And while the Titans headed back to their home, Red X was already back at his. He folded up his torn suit and placed it in its familiar spot under his bed, knowing that he'd have a long day of patching up to do once he got home from school the next day. He put on a thin black tanktop to go with his black boxer shorts, then walked down to the living room, where his mother had been watching television for the past several hours.

On the screen was a news report about the ship that had exploded in Jump City Harbor... the local stations had cut in and had been talking about the ongoing story for several hours.

"Sanza... I haven't seen you all night," said Maria, a hint of concern in her voice as she glanced at the television. "Have you heard about this? I was worried you might have been somewhere nearby..."

His mother didn't know how right she was... but Sanza wasn't about to tell her that.

"I... I should've told you, my friends and I went out to get some pizza, we ended up staying and talking..."

With a long sigh, Maria leaned back in her chair and took Sanza's right hand in both of hers. Fortunately, most of Sanza's bruises and wounds he'd sustained in the fights with Terra and Ruell weren't visible... which meant that his mother wouldn't have something else to worry about.

"I didn't give you a curfew, so you're not in trouble... but you really, really, _really _need to tell me if you're going to be out this late! I... I guess-"

"You're a mom, don't worry about it," said Sanza, leaning in and giving his mother a brief kiss on the forehead. "And I'm tired, so-"

"That's right, it's one-thirty in the morning, and you have school about six hours from now," said Maria, looking into Sanza's eyes with a serious glare. "I want you in bed right now!"

_"That's exactly where I was headed..." _thought Sanza, turning away from his mother and walking toward the stairs.

The Crisis Crystal had been destroyed... the threat of a controlled Terra destroying the city was gone, but the threat of Slade still remained... and now, Sanza knew, his family was still vulnerable.

But then again, there was always another way... and as long as Red X kept his skills sharp, he might be able to find it. In fact, maybe even just the combat experience X got from going out stealing every night would help him become strong enough to protect his family from Slade.

_"Not bloody likely," _thought Sanza, entering his room and crawling into bed, pulling the covers to his neck and turning onto his side. He let out a long sigh, blinking once, and then twice... and then slowly allowing slumber to overtake him.

It had been a long night... and it was time for Sanza to finally achieve his peace.

O-O-O

The suit that Slade had placed on Terra, and that she was still wearing after having been returned to her normal, human form, was still attached to her skin via its various neural interface systems. It would take several hours working in the Titans Tower infirmary for the team to be able to remove all the components of the suit from Terra's body... the last two things to go were the metallic plates attached to her head and scalp by a needle-like object that penetrated into Terra's cranium.

Cyborg's expertise with technology helped him to remove the plates, and Terra now sat on a metallic operating table in just a white bra and panties, looking exactly as she had when the suit had first been put on her. It had been removed with no lasting damage to Terra's body, or her appearance.

"All done," said Cyborg as Terra slowly stood up from the table, looking herself over and shivering slightly as the cool air circulating through the room touched her bare skin. "Now, I could see about getting you something to wear, or-"

"It's fine," said Terra, turning to Cyborg and giving him a quick smile. "I'll... I'll put something on in the morning and you guys can take me clothes shopping then... if... if you want to-"

"Of course we do, Terra..." replied Robin, who had been standing near the doorway with Starfire and Beast Boy. Raven had retired to her room to sleep after she'd been told that she wouldn't be needed in the operation. "We're your friends... anything you need, we'll give you."

"That is correct," said Starfire, nodding her head and holding up an outfit identical to hers, dangling on a wire hanger that she held in her left hand. "I was not pleased with Blackfire when she decided to wear my outfit, but you may wear this whenever you like!"

Terra blushed, and shook her head, looking over at Beast Boy. The sight of Terra in her underwear caused the changeling to glow a bright, embarrassed red... and he put his hands over his eyes, hoping that Terra wouldn't think he was a pervert. She giggled and walked over to him, lowering his hands from his eyes and staring into his face, which was looking up right at hers.

"See, you're looking at my eyes, not... well, you're looking at my eyes, I appreciate that," said Terra, smiling and turning to Robin and Starfire. "I'll just... go out to the living room and sleep on the-"

"No way," said Beast Boy, taking Terra by the hand and leading her out of the room. "We kept your room _exactly _how you left it, you're sleeping there and I won't take no for an answer."

Cyborg followed the two outside, leaving Starfire and Robin alone in the infirmary. Starfire smiled at Robin, then bowed her head, embarrassed herself at something... and a little bit sad.

"Starfire, what-"

"It is just that... in all the chaos of today, in Terra being revived and... and everything, I... everyone... even you, forgot that today is your birthday..."

Robin looked down at his watch... it was five in the morning, nearly daybreak. In reality, the previous day had been his birthday.

"Um... my birthday was yesterday, Star."

"See?" she said, almost shrieking. "I... I completely forgot, and... and I am very sorry... I did not even obtain a gift for you..."

Robin shook his head, gently lifting his gloved hand to Starfire's cheek.

"Star, it's like you said... we _all _forgot it was my birthday, even ME. It... it doesn't matter, Star. Terra being back, and safe, is probably the greatest birthday gift I ever could've gotten."

Starfire sniffled, and nodded in agreement.

"It is... absolutely wonderful that Terra is back," said Starfire, a smile once again appearing on her face. Robin nodded, his hand remaining on Starfire's cheek while his other hand looped around, across her back. She slowly leaned in toward him, her eyes remaining fixed on his. "But... I just wanted to say... happy birthday, Robin."

"Thanks, Starfire..." he replied, his own face leaning toward hers, just before the two locked their lips together in a warm, tender kiss. Their lips remained on one another's for five seconds before the two slowly parted, still looking into each other's eyes. "That gift wasn't bad either."

With a brief giggle, Starfire turned from Robin and exited the room. Just before heading to her own room for some well-needed rest, she poked her head in and gave Robin three last words.

"Good night, Robin..." she said to him. He replied with simply, "good morning, Starfire."

O-O-O

Beast Boy had told the truth... the room _was _exactly as Terra had left it... a beautiful mural of the desert sky painted on her walls, her things exactly as they had left them... and in the closet, there _were _several of her favorite outfits, so there would be no need to go shopping the next day. Terra still decided to sleep in her underwear, and after Cyborg and Beast Boy had left the room, she curled up under her covers and took another long look around her room, wondering why her friends would possibly keep it completely intact for her.

_"Because... because they're my friends," _thought Terra, slowly closing her eyes. She couldn't believe that they still cared about her so much... but the thought of their friendship gave her comfort as she slowly drifted off to sleep.

She would decide whether to stay with them when she woke up... but for now, all Terra wanted to do was rest. After ten months of forced stone sleep, the beautiful blonde geomancer wanted to slumber on her own terms.

O-O-O

Terra has returned... and she's returned with a vengeance! But will she stay with the Teen Titans? Will they even accept her? And what of Project Shattered Earth... is it truly foiled, or do the four remaining powerbrokers have some other terrible ace up their sleeves? Hmm... wait and find out!


	7. Cacophany Of Doubt

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Teen Titans. If I did, this would be on TV and not here.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This doesn't take place in the same storyline as my "Forced Base" and "Fractured Heart" stories, so forget those when you're reading this. Also, about Sanza/Red X: When he's wearing the mask, he's Red X. When he's not, he's Sanza. Simple as that.

SECOND AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a sequel to "The Life and Times of Red X", which is in my profile. Read that before you read this. Also, this fic COMPLETELY IGNORES the events of the fifth season (with the exception of "Go"). For the purposes of this fic, "Things Change" NEVER HAPPENED.

O-O-O

It had been a long night for the Teen Titans, and it would be a late morning as well... with the exception of their leader, Robin. He was up bright and early, though it meant that he would only receive a few hours of sleep. He'd just finished making himself breakfast when the second of the Titans to awaken made their way into the kitchen.

"Morning, Rae," said Robin, watching as his blue-cloaked friend used her telekinetic powers to pour herself a bowl of cereal from the cabinet without touching either the box or bowl. "Get up because you couldn't sleep, or-"

"You got it," she replied softly, picking up her cereal bowl and sitting down at the counter next to Robin. "I don't think any of the others will be getting up for a while..."

And by others, Raven not only meant Cyborg, Starfire, or Beast Boy... but Terra as well, who, after ten months of being a statue, had finally returned to Titans Tower. Pinnacle Industries' plan to turn her into a weapon had failed miserably after the destruction of the Crisis Crystal, and Terra was now back on the team.

But all of the Titans, especially Terra, knew that she was back on a provisional basis... and though the Titans were ready to once again accept the blonde geomancer back into their lives, all of them had at least a few lingering doubts. Raven, who'd been the most vocal objector to Terra during her first stint on the team, was certainly no exception.

"Do you think Terra's redeemed herself enough to return to the team?"

Raven's question was quick, out of the blue, and something that Robin had to think about for several seconds. Out of all the Titans, the one who'd been most reluctant to have Terra back on the team had thus far been Terra herself... could the Titans be jumping the gun on accepting her back.

"I'm sure she still has issues with controlling her powers," said Robin. "That's what drove her to Slade last time... she was so afraid that we'd reject her because she didn't have control that she ended up rejecting _us _first."

Robin had prepared himself an all-American breakfast... eggs, sausage, bacon, and a heaping helping of pancakes and syrup. He spoke to Raven through bites of his food... the Boy Wonder had an usually large appetite this particular morning, and Raven could tell that it was because of anxiety. Anxiety about Terra... and the future of the team.

Raven could understand why Terra would be so distraught about being unable to control her powers... Raven had gone through those same issues herself, and she still had to maintain emotional restraint to be able to contain much of the immense energy forces present in her body. Fortunately, by the time Raven had met the other Titans, she already had full control over her abilities... Terra had not been so lucky.

"I think we need to make her feel welcome... if she knows that she has a place she can go where people will always accept her, then... I think we can trust her," said Robin, taking another bite of his pancakes.

"That's what she had _last _time... and she betrayed us anyway," Raven replied quickly.

Robin gave a solemn nod... but then, a thought came into his head.

"The last time she returned to us, she had already made a deal with Slade... this time, we've been with her since the moment she came back to life. So... as long as she stays here..."

Robin seemed to have a point... Raven said nothing, simply turning her head and taking another bite of cereal. Whatever decision Terra made, it was obvious that the attitude that the Titans took toward her would make a huge difference in whether or not she wanted to remain with the team.

A Teen Titan... a true friend. Even after Terra had betrayed them, the Titans still regarded Terra as a friend... now that she had returned, would the friendship continue?

_"It's easier to love a statue that can never hurt you than a person who can betray and destroy you in an instant..." _thought Raven, still remembering the emotional hurt that she herself had sustained when she learned of Terra's betrayal. _"She still has issues that she needs to work out... until she does, I still can't be completely sure that she won't hurt us again..."_

O-O-O

Beast Boy was the next to awaken, sitting up wide-eyed in his bed at half past ten. His body was drenched in sweat, and he was gasping for breath... he'd had another nightmare, almost identical to the one he'd had just two nights earlier.

_"Terra..." _he thought, his hand brushing the side of his cheek. _"It's my fault that she ended up a statue... that she became Slade's apprentice... I can't... I can't... I can't go on like this without telling her how sorry I am..."_

And the difference between today and two days ago... this time, Terra _was _alive. She could hear everything that Beast Boy wanted to say to her... and as long as she would listen, he could tell her that he was sorry.

He glanced over all the clutter in his room... the piles of garbage and old clothes strewn about haphazardly, CDs and comics lying randomly across the carpeted floor... and there, leaning in the corner, was the heart-shaped box he'd given Terra on the night she'd betrayed him... or, at least from Beast Boy's point of view, the night he'd betrayed her.

He had to tell her... and now, she was just two rooms down the hall.

Wearily rising from his bed, Beast Boy walked over to the front door of his room. As soon as it opened, he saw one of his fellow Titans towering over him. It was Cyborg, a smile on his face.

"Well, good morning, Beast Boy!" said Cyborg, looking down at Beast Boy and blocking his way out into the hall. "You all ready to start the day?"

Beast Boy nodded, trying to squeeze past Cyborg, whose large metallic body nearly took up the entire doorway. Cyborg shifted his frame to the left, cutting off his friend's exit.

"Yo, what's the rush? It's not a good idea to exert yourself this early in the day," said Cyborg. "Especially without any breakfast in you."

"I just need to see Terra," replied Beast Boy, letting out a long sigh. "I... I had another nightmare about her, and-"

"I think the little rock n' roller needs her rest right now," said Cyborg, his grin disappearing. "She's had a really rough past few months. Just let her sleep in 'til noon, and then you can go risk waking her up."

Beast Boy bowed his head. Cyborg was right... Terra _did _need her rest, and as far as Beast Boy was concerned, she could sleep the entire day if she wanted to... she'd almost certainly earned it.

But that didn't shake the changeling's guilt or uneasiness about his rejection of Terra... and though he'd tried his best to reassure her the previous night, he still hadn't said a single thing that he truly wanted to say. Until Beast Boy was able to give Terra the full apology that he believed she deserved, it was going to eat away at him.

Which brought Beast Boy to another thing Cyborg was right about... he _did _need to get some breakfast in his stomach, and quickly. The rumbling in Beast Boy's green belly clearly indicated to both himself and Cyborg that he was extremely hungry.

"C'mon, I'll cook you up some eggs, bacon, and sausage, and I'll top it all off with a nice, tall glass of fresh cow milk," said Cyborg, smiling as he walked off down the hallway.

"Sure thing!" said Beast Boy, a smile forming on his own face as he followed his friend down the hall. It took him several seconds for his brain to register what he'd just agreed to. "Hey, wait a minute, I don't eat ANY of that stuff!"

O-O-O

Terra opened her eyes and was immediately taken aback by the bright sun invading through her window. The warm light bathed her body as she slowly withdrew from her covers... she hadn't seen the sun in nearly a year. When she'd been with Slade, she'd slept underground, only coming out to attack the Titans or the city... and as a statue, she hadn't been able to view the sun at all, at night or during the day.

It was a cathartic feeling... that after such a long, terrible night, day finally came to Terra... and for several minutes, she just sat up in her bed, admiring the sunlight and the beautiful cityscape... the skyline of the city that she'd nearly destroyed. She didn't know whether it was the brightness of the sun, or her own emotions getting the best of her, but several tears made their way down the teenage girl's face before she was finally able to climb out of bed and make her way to the closet, where clothes that she hadn't seen in months were still hanging up for her.

After changing into her familiar outfit of a black t-shirt marked with a bright yellow 'T', a pair of denim shorts, white socks, brown boots, and goggles hanging from her neck, Terra made her way to the door of her room. She'd foregone her brown gloves, choosing instead to allow her fingers to remain bare, mostly so that she could feel things that she hadn't felt in so very long. The metallic door was cool to the touch, and she could feel the air on the tips of her fingers as it quickly pulled back, allowing her access to the hallway.

_"Here goes nothing..." _she thought, stepping slowly across the threshold and out into the cool corridor of the Tower. She remembered everything... its smell, the sound of air quietly passing through hallways, the layout of the building... in her brief time as a Teen Titan, she'd seen so much and had been given so much...

And she'd thrown it completely away, right back into her friends' faces. Raven was right... they trusted her, they gave her everything, and she treated them like dirt. More tears began to come, but Terra held them back as she made her way to the elevator that would take her down to the main room of the tower.

Terra had been the last to wake up, just past one o'clock and an hour and a half after Starfire had made her way downstairs to the kitchen area to begin preparing lunch. Lunch had just been consumed, though Beast Boy had chosen to forgo the meal, having gotten a late start on breakfast. Inside the kitchen, Robin and Starfire were busily washing dishes together, and they were the first to see Terra as she emerged from the elevator into the main room of the tower.

"Terra!" exclaimed Starfire, dropping the plate that she was washing and quickly floating over to the blonde, who barely had time to turn before Starfire's arms were wrapped tightly around her. Terra expelled a quiet gasp as Starfire let her go, a bright smile on the young alien's face. "It is truly wonderful to see that you are awake! You have missed the meal of lunch, but if you wish I shall prepare something for-"

"It's all right, Starfire..." replied Terra, unable to manage a smile as she slowly walked toward the center of the room. "I'll just... go out and get something."

Seated in front of the television were Raven, Beast Boy, and Cyborg... the three of them were playing a video game together, and despite the fact that she rarely ever played, Raven was easily dominating both of her fellow Titans.

"You gotta be cheating!" shouted Cyborg as his on-screen character was gunned down by Raven's character for a fifth straight time. "You're using your powers to figure out where I am on the map, that's totally against the rules!"

"Actually, it's called radar," said Raven, pointing at the miniature image of the level map at the center of the screen that indicated exactly where all three characters were. "And when I asked if either of you wanted to play without it, you both turned me down flat."

"She's got a point there, Cyborg," said Beast Boy, just before Raven's character fragged his own with a grenade. "HEY!"

By now, Terra was standing right behind them, watching the action on the screen with a stoic look on her face. She gave a quiet sigh, remembering when she and the other Titans used to play video games together... but that seemed like an eternity ago. She began to turn away from the couch, when Beast Boy, having heard Terra's sigh, looked up and saw her starting to walk away.

"Terra?"

Beast Boy immediately threw down his controller and got up from the couch, running around to meet Terra before she could take another step. He noticed the sad look on her face and began to speak.

"It's... it's good to see you up, Terra, are you okay?"

She nodded, and gave a smile... a little smile, trying to reassure Beast Boy that she was, in fact, okay.

"I'm just a little tired, that's all..."

"Yeah," Beast Boy replied, scratching the back of his head. By now, Raven and Cyborg had paused the game, and both were very quietly watching the two standing behind their couch. "Long night last night... fighting mad scientists and all..."

Terra nodded, and even let out a small chuckle. Typical Beast Boy, trying to lighten the mood... he'd almost always been able to cheer her up, that's why she befriended him so quickly... and why she fell in love.

"I, uh... I guess I missed lunch," said Terra, pointing to the two Titans still washing dishes in the kitchen. When Starfire saw that Terra was looking her way, she gave the blonde another friendly wave, and Terra waved back. "I guess that's my fault for sleeping in so late..."

"Nah, it's fine... like I said, we all had a long night..." Beast Boy was clearly nervous, and he was stumbling over his words... and almost starting to forget what he wanted to say to Terra. Even when he did remember, it made him nervous to speak... especially when all the other Titans were nearby. He had to get the two of them out of the Tower somehow... then he could tell the girl he loved everything that she wanted to hear. "You know, I skipped lunch too, but... I'm getting kinda hungry again... maybe you and I can go out, just the two of us? Somewhere... like, um..."

Beast Boy was getting nervous again, and Terra's reaction to his offer only compounded that nervousness. She frowned and slowly shook her head.

"I'm not all that hungry, Beast Boy..." said Terra, bowing her head. _"Not to mention what happened the last time you and I went out alone..."_

Raven looked at both of them, and could see that both Beast Boy and Terra were extremely uncomfortable. She stood up and walked over to Terra, placing her hand on the girl's shoulder.

"You and I... we need to talk," said Raven, gesturing for Terra to come with her to a hallway just outside the room. Terra reluctantly nodded, wondering what Raven could possibly want... but knowing the history between the two of them, it probably wasn't going to be good.

As Terra followed Raven out of the room, Beast Boy stood behind the couch, his mouth agape, his hands trembling. Cyborg leaned over the back of the couch, staring at Beast Boy and wondering why Beast Boy didn't just say what he wanted to say.

"Didn't you want to tell her something?" asked Cyborg. Beast Boy nodded, but didn't say a word until both Terra and Raven were out of sight. He then turned to Cyborg, leaning up and whispering something into his friend's ear.

"...I fucked up, didn't I?" whispered Beast Boy. Cyborg had no way of answering that question... and Robin and Starfire, watching from the kitchen area, had no idea what to think.

"I have a feeling that this is going to take quite a while getting used to," said Robin, leaning up against the kitchen counter.

"I... truly believe that Terra wishes to be a member of this team," Starfire replied, though she knew that she might be the most optimistic of the bunch, even moreso than Beast Boy. "I am ready to trust her... I merely hope that she is ready to trust us."

O-O-O

Once Raven and Terra were far enough away from the main room not to be overheard, Raven turned to Terra and signaled for her to stop walking.

"Terra, I know that you probably have some serious guilt about what you did, and-"

"Stop," said Terra, extending her palm out to Raven. "Just... just stop, I know what you're going to say. You're going to tell me that I shouldn't feel bad, and that I need to make my own decision, and that everything's going to be fine, but... that doesn't undo the damage I did, Raven. I nearly destroyed the city... I tried to kill all of you... even sacrificing myself doesn't begin to atone for all that I did."

Terra turned away from Raven, bowing her head and raising her hand to her face. Once more, the tears were beginning to come, and once more, she was struggling to hold them back.

"I... I wasn't fully unconscious... when I was stone, Raven... it was like sleep... I was dreaming, I had visions... I had time to think about what I did, and... to reflect on how horrible my actions truly were."

Raven wasn't the person that Terra wanted to confess to, especially about the subject of some of the nightmarish things she'd seen while she'd been made into stone. The one person that she trusted with information like that was Beast Boy... but she felt much too guilty to have any long talks with him at the moment.

Again, Raven's hand made its way to Terra's shoulder.

"Nothing can _excuse _what you did, Terra... you made a conscious decision to become Slade's apprentice... you made a conscious decision to attack us and to inflict damage on the city."

_"Well,_ that _certainly doesn't make me feel any better..." _thought Terra, though she knew that she deserved every harsh word that Raven had for her.

"I... I know that you didn't want anyone to realize that you didn't have control of your powers. I went through the same thing you did, Terra... it took me _ten years _to be able to maintain the control and focus needed for my emotionally-based energy. Ten years of studying and practicing with the monks of Azar, who took me in and taught me everything I know..."

And Raven too had kept a dark secret from her friends... the secret of her role as Trigon's portal, which nearly led to the end of the world. She'd kept that secret... but she hadn't consciously decided to betray her friends because of it. Terra, on the other hand, had plenty of opportunities to fight against Slade, even after he'd taught her how to control her powers... but she decided to become Slade's apprentice, his spy... and the Titans had nearly died because of it.

"You didn't go through _anything _like I did..." said Terra quietly, almost a bitter, angry quality in her voice. She took a step away from Raven, her hands briefly clenching into fists. "You never hurt anyone like I did..."

Raven couldn't put her finger on exactly what darkness lay within Terra's memories... but from the girl's emotional vibrations, she knew that Terra was hurting... hurting from a wound inflicted a very long time ago. It was this wound that most likely was the source of Terra's emotional problems... what had caused her to seek out Slade and to betray the Titans... and as long as the scars from that wound remained, Terra would never truly be at peace.

Before Raven could say another word, Terra was already halfway down the hall. She had no more words for Raven... and again was struggling to keep herself from breaking down into tears. Raven watched Terra leave, and knew that there was still work to be done before this girl could be completely trusted again.

_"I know that something's hurting you, but... you can't let that control your life, and you can't let that give you any reason to hurt others," _thought Raven, her eyes narrowing. _"I'll be watching you..."_

O-O-O

The first person that Terra spotted when she emerged back in the main room was Beast Boy, now the only person left in the room. Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg had gone off to the other parts of the Tower, and Beast Boy had stayed to wait for Terra... potentially to comfort her if Raven had said something bad to her.

She immediately walked over to Beast Boy, and her frown quickly became a smile. Maybe what she needed was some fresh air... and her conversation with Raven had made that need all too clear.

"You know what, Beast Boy... I think I _will _go out to lunch with you," said Terra, walking over and taking his hand in hers. Beast Boy's expression lightened up, and he had to restrain himself from letting out an excited yell.

"That's... that's great, are you sure you want to-"

"I'm definitely sure, let's go!"

The two walked toward the front of the tower, and Beast Boy couldn't help but wonder if Terra had just wanted to leave the tower to get away from Raven, or if she was just in a better mood than she'd been earlier.

For Terra, it wasn't that she wanted to _get away _from Raven, per se... she just needed to think, and maybe spending time with Beast Boy would help convince her that it was worth it to rejoin the Teen Titans.

After all, Beast Boy was her best friend... and she still felt that way about him now. If anyone could make Terra feel as if she was capable of doing good, it was Beast Boy... though every time she saw him, that familiar, horrible feeling of guilt began to wrench at her heart.

It was an emotional tug-of-war... with Terra's happiness as the prize.

O-O-O

The two of them went out to lunch at the pizza parlor a few blocks away, sitting together at a table on the roof, the floor of which had been painted to resemble a slice of pizza. As the two ate, Terra could feel her apprehension slowly leaving her... without any villains to fight or without Slade to manipulate her, Terra was free to remember the fun times that she and Beast Boy had had together... and this lunch was just another one of those beautiful moments.

Beast Boy was also happier... and he'd completely forgotten about the apology he'd intended to give Terra, for as the two of them exchanged light conversation, the nagging feeling that had been in Beast Boy's stomach was starting to fade. Beast Boy began telling Terra about everything that had happened while she was gone... the battles that the Titans had had with Brother Blood and with Trigon, as well as the other, lesser villains the Titans had faced.

"It seems like I missed quite a bit..." said Terra, taking a bite out of a slice of pizza. Beast Boy had ordered the pizza for both of them, and due to his aversion to milk-based cheese, the cheese on the pizza was made from soy... it didn't matter to Terra, she ate all kinds of food and was more than tolerant of Beast Boy's vegan palate. "I... I really wish I could've been there for some of those battles, BB..."

Terra's spirits were sinking again, and it was up to Beast Boy to bring her back out of her funk.

"Hey... there's plenty more villains to fight, and now that you're back, we'll have no problem kicking all their butts... um... if you're coming back, that is..."

Terra sighed and bowed her head.

"I... I know you'll have me back, Beast Boy... but what about the others? Starfire is friendly enough, she might forgive me, but... Cyborg, Robin... Raven? They haven't forgotten... and even if they _do _want me back, I-"

"We _all _want you back, Terra," said Beast Boy, reaching across the table and placing his hand on hers. "That's the truth..."

Terra gently gripped Beast Boy's hand with her fingers, using her other hand to reach for another slice of pizza. Slowly, she began to smile again.

"I... I'm just worried... what if I screw up again and hurt everyone?"

"You won't screw up, Terra... trust me, if _either _of us is a screw-up, it's me. Just ask Raven."

The comment managed to get another giggle out of Terra, and Beast Boy's grip tightened on her hand. He loved to see Terra happy... and the sound of her laughter was one of the most beautiful sounds he knew.

O-O-O

Across town from the pizza parlor, there was a big event taking place... Jump City Stadium, home to Jump City's beloved baseball team. The stadium was packed full, with tens of thousands of fans jammed into their seats for the first game of the season.

Sitting up in the press box, the announcer had a full view of the action, and was ready to call the game with excitement and vigor.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it's a beautiful day here at Jump City Stadium, where our beloved Zeppelins are getting ready to play against the visiting Gotham Sharks. It's opening day, and all these Zeppelin fans are just waiting to see a fantastic game!"

As the players warmed up on the field, someone else was getting ready to throw the very first pitch of the season... and he wasn't the person that stadium officials were expecting to see.

"And now, here's the mayor of Jump City, ready to throw the ceremonial first pitch of the season!" called the announcer, as a man in a red, white, and blue baseball uniform strode out to the mound. Instead of the normal pinstripes that usually make up a baseball uniform, this man's outfit was different... on the front and back of his jacket was the emblem of the Union Jack... the British flag. "Uh... the mayor's looking a little bit shorter than usual..."

The man adjusted his blue baseball cap as he held a baseball in his right hand... immediately, the stadium's security guards realized that this man was _not _the mayor of Jump City. But by the time they started running out to remove him from the pitcher's mound, it was too late.

"Ah, baseball... the _American _pasttime..." said the man in the blue cap, almost spitting the word 'American' as he spoke it, his words coming in a thick, Cockney accent. "Well, that's just peachy! But it's time you Yankees leaned to appreciate a REAL sport!"

The baseball in the man's hand suddenly morphed into a bright red gem... and a long, golden cane protruded outward from it, shimmering in the light of the day. The man wasn't the mayor at all... he was, in fact, the villainous Mad Mod. As the security guards attempted to tackle him, he pointed the end of the cane at them and blasted them with a bright beam of white light. Almost instantly, the men were transformed into old-style British constables, with blue uniforms and tall blue hats. Their eyes disappeared, replaced by a swirling sea of black and white. By now, the people in the crowd had started to panic, and were attempting to flee for the exits of the stadium... but Mad Mod would have nothing of it.

"Maybe a sport like... _rugby_!" shouted Mad Mod, raising his cane into the air. In less than a second, the baseball stadium had been transformed into a rugby field, and the panicking fans in the stands were changed into rowdy, drunken rioters with swirling eyes similar to those of the two guards. Instead of charging for the exits, the fans began to fight amongst themselves, and Mad Mod let out a loud, evil laugh. "Now that's more like it, my duckies!"

O-O-O

Robin and Cyborg sat down on the couch in the main room of the Tower, holding bags of various snacks in their hands. After a rough battle the previous day, the two Titans were glad to be able to get some relaxation... and there was no better way to relax than by watching the local baseball team play it's opening game.

"Oh yeah, game's on!" shouted Cyborg, pointing his remote control at the television. "Now I know you're from Gotham, but in _this _tower, we cheer for the Zeps, you got it?"

"Gotham's won the pennant four years straight," said Robin, smirking at Cyborg as he opened a bag of potato chips. "There's no way that the Zeps are winning today."

"You take that back, man!" shouted Cyborg, more playful than angry. "This year, the Zeps are going all the way!"

But when the television flashed on, the Titans received a surprise... and knew that their relaxation would be short-lived.

O-O-O

Beast Boy had spent his entire lunch with Terra... and he still hadn't been able to bring himself to make an apology for her. That's mostly because by the time he remembered what he wanted to tell her, the two had already returned to the entrance of the Tower.

Just before Beast Boy began to speak, Terra opened the front door of the tower... and the two were met immediately by the other four Titans.

"Beast Boy, Terra, we've got trouble at Jump City Stadium," said Robin. "Mad Mod's started a riot, and we've gotta get down there before it gets completely out of control."

He looked over at Terra, his eyes meeting hers.

"Terra... I know you just came back, but... are you up for it?"

Terra barely had to think for a second before nodding her head. She still wasn't sure about whether or not she wanted to be a Titan... but the surest way she could find out was by helping them on a mission. As soon as she nodded, the six Titans piled into the T-Car, and were off to the stadium.

_"I don't know how much I'll be able to help them... but if they're willing to give me a chance, then I might as well try," _thought Terra as the T-Car descended into the bay and began racing toward the city.

O-O-O

The scene at the stadium was one of pure chaos. Small fires had already broken out, and the Titans could see the smoke rising up from the arena as soon as they stepped out of their T-Car. Inside, they could hear the sounds of shattering glass, shouting, cursing, and the occasional fit of laughter from Mad Mod.

"This isn't going to be easy," said Robin, his eyes fixed on the structure. "We'll need to take out Mad Mod as soon as possible... which means we'll need to drop right into the center of the stadium."

The other Titans, including Terra, knew exactly what that meant. The four Titans who could fly would have to carry the two who couldn't. Starfire lifted up Robin, while Raven lifted up Cyborg. Beast Boy transformed into a bird, and Terra levitated herself up from the ground on a piece of concrete.

_"There's a lot of people in there..." _thought Terra as she followed the Titans toward the center of the stadium. A feeling of dread began to enter her body, but she managed to fight it off, shaking her head and quickly clearing her thoughts. _"I can do this. I have to do this... it's the only way to make up for all the trouble I've caused..."_

The six Titans hovered right over the center of the stadium. Down below was Mad Mod, his hands on his hips, watching the chaos that he'd created. In the stands, the hypnotized fans were breaking up bleachers, knocking down food carts, and beating the living daylights out of one another. The Titans knew that they had to act fast, and quickly lowered themselves down in front of the British villain.

"It's over, Mod," said Robin, clenching his fist. The other Titans stood behind him, prepared to fight.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the Teen Titans, here to fight for truth, justice, and the..." Before continuing his sentence, Mad Mod spat onto the ground. "American way! Well you're just a little bit too late for that, my duckies... and you're not gonna make it outta here alive!"

The six biggest, toughest-looking men from the crowd came down from the stands and stood behind Mad Mod, all of them with angry looks on their hypnotized faces. The men's clothes had been replaced with white rugby uniforms, and as they stared down the Titans, the Titans stared back, unintimidated. Mad Mod sneered as he scanned the group of Titans... and noticed that there was one among them whom he hadn't seen before.

"And who's this little girly, eh?" said Mad Mod, pointing the jeweled end of his cane in Terra's face. Terra wasn't amused, and she stomped the ground with her left foot, sending up chunks of dirt and mud from the ground in a straight line, right under Mad Mod's feet. The uplifted rock caused him to lose his balance and fall flat on his rear, causing Beast Boy to let out a quick laugh.

"Her name's Terra, and she's gonna help us kick your butt!" shouted Beast Boy, prompting Raven to glare at him. "Well, it's true..."

"The only butts that are getting kicked here are yours, Titans! I've got the six rowdiest, surliest, toughest men in the city right behind me, and you lot are about to get a taste of the roughest sport in the whole bleedin' world!"

With another bright flash from his cane, Mad Mod disappeared, and the six Titans were standing face to face with the men under Mod's hypnotic control. By now, the crowd in the stands had stopped fighting each other, and were now screaming in the stands, holding up signs that read things like 'DOWN WITH THE TITANS!' and 'IF THE TITANS WIN, WE RIOT'. Mad Mod reappeared at the side of the field, wearing a blue and red striped referee's outfit. A large, white rugby ball dropped inbetween the two groups of six, prompting Robin to pick it up.

"Mad Mod, whatever you're planning here, it's-"

Immediately, Robin found himself plowed over by all six men, who then ran past the Boy Wonder as if nothing had happened, leaving him lying face-down on the ground as one of the men carried the ball toward the other end of the field.

"ROBIN!" screamed Starfire, rushing over to her friend's seemingly-mangled body. As Starfire tended to Robin's injuries, the six men marched right down the field, dashing past the goal line. The man who had the ball spiked it to the ground, and all six men began leaping up and down in celebration, high-fiving and banging their chests against one another's.

"...I have no idea what they're doing," said Raven, "but-"

It was at that moment that Raven disappeared, and reappeared in a large, glowing cage behind the goal line past which the six large men had just crossed.

"What the heck?" shouted Cyborg, watching as Raven's hands touched the light blue bars of the cage. She let out a painful scream and collapsed to the ground, as if she had been shocked. "What's going on here?"

"Oh, did I tell you?" said Mad Mod, pointing at Raven. "Because the other team scored a goal, one of your players goes into the penalty box. The game ends when all the members of one team are in the box... at which point, kaboom! Everything and everyone in the box is completely annihilated!"

"I don't think so," said Raven, extending her arms out toward the edges of the cage. "Azarath, metreon, ZINTHOS!"

A huge blast of energy burst outward from Raven's body... and bounced back at her as soon as it hit the walls of the cage. She crumpled to the ground again with another loud cry of pain.

"That's not good..." said Beast Boy, his eyes narrowing. Robin, with Starfire's help, picked himself up from the ground and turned to Mad Mod.

"You can't _do _this!" shouted Robin, as the ball was once again dropped between the five remaining Titans and their six burly opponents, who had returned to their original positions at the center of the field.

Not only were the Titans in danger of being destroyed if they lost... but if they _won_, six of Mad Mod's innocent victims would meet an equally unfortunate end. The Titans had to do something quickly, or risk catastrophic damage to innocent lives.

"I'm about to blow the whistle, duckies! You'd better line up or you'll get scored on again!"

The crowd became rowdier and rowdier with each passing second, chanting abusive words at the five Titans who remained on the playing field.

"Maybe... maybe we should try to win," said Terra, staring across the center of the field at the six men that Mod had hypnotized. "We can't do anything to help these people if we're all trapped in Mad Mod's cage..."

"Terra's right, y'all," said Cyborg, clenching his fists and crouching down, ready to go after the ball as soon as Mod's whistle was blown. "We can think of a way to save them while we're playing..."

While Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Terra were eager to win and ensure the Titans' safety, both Robin and Starfire were reluctant about doing anything that might endanger the lives of innocent people. Mod's six hypnotized rugby players were certainly tough men, but they were no superheroes... they would be completely helpless against some of the Titans' best attacks.

Before the heroes could debate the matter any further, the whistle rang. Again, the six men charged at the ball. Beast Boy reacted quickly, changing into a fox and diving between the legs of one of the men, tackling the ball and pushing it past the row of bruisers. Once he'd cleared them, he detransformed and picked up the ball.

"Beast Boy, run!" shouted Terra, jumping up and down. "Hurry!"

Beast Boy nodded, and took off, dashing with the ball toward the opposite end of the field. Before he could get very far, a member of the opposing team hit him in the legs with a vicious chop-block, sending him quickly to the ground. The ball emerged from his hands, rolling out onto the field of play, where it was quickly picked up by one of the white-shirted men and carried down toward the Titans' goal.

Starfire, the closest of the Titans to the man with the ball, reluctantly decided to charge at him, her eyes glowing bright green. Just before she got to the man, however, he passed the ball behind him to one of his teammates, who had an open field ahead of him. The crowd cheered wildly as the man dashed toward the Titans' goal, and was soon just a few feet away from the goal line.

_"I can't let any more of my team go into that box," _thought Robin, firing his Birdcable at the man's leg and tripping him up just before reaching the goal. Immediately, the crowd went into an angry frenzy, throwing garbage and beer bottles in Robin's direction. As Robin was dodging the debris, Mad Mod blew his whistle, raising up a yellow card and pointing at Robin.

"Illegal use of gadgets!" shouted Mad Mod, walking out onto the field and pointing his cane at Robin. "There's no gadgets in rugby!"

"You gotta be kidding me!" shouted Cyborg, raising his hands to his forehead. Starfire immediately ran over to Mad Mod, getting in his face and poking him in the chest with her fingers.

"That was a very, VERY bad call! On my planet, we would call such an egregious miscalculation by a sporting official _bozsnonkle_!"

Mad Mod blew his whistle again, and this time raised a red card, pointing at Starfire.

"Swearing at an official, that's an immediate ejection from the game!"

And in less than a second, Starfire disappeared from the field and reappeared in the 'penalty box' next to Raven, who was sitting on the ground with her elbows pressed to her knees and her chin resting on her hands. She glared at Starfire before refocusing her attention to the ground, letting out a long sigh.

_"This can't be happening..." _thought Raven, hoping that her four friends would find some way to overcome Mad Mod's completely unfair home-field advantage.

Mad Mod took the rugby ball in his hands and walked to the center of the field, where the six men wearing white uniforms lined up in two rows, linking arms with one another and forming a box-like structure behind the ball, which Mod had just set down onto the field.

"Since Robin used his gadgets, I'm gonna call a scrum, so you Titans hook arms like these blokes are doin' and we'll restart play."

_"This is ridiculous..." _thought Robin, linking arms with Cyborg and lining up in front of Beast Boy and Terra, who had already linked arms and were looking one another in the eye, trying to psyche each other up for this important play.

"We can't let them score another goal," said Beast Boy, staring down across the field at Mad Mod's team. "If they do, we'll be outnumbered by... um..."

"Two-to-one?" said Terra, finishing Beast Boy's sentence. He quickly nodded, and Terra returned her focus to the six men now charging forward at the four remaining Titans, shifting the ball back and forth between them as they shuffled their legs. The Titans charged forward, headlong into the group of six men, and arms and legs began to fly as the two groups scrambled for possession of the ball. For several seconds, the ball became lost in the middle of the scrum, but suddenly, the ball shot into the air as if blown by a geyser. A pocket of dirt in the middle of the scrum had been uplifted, knocking the ball up, where Beast Boy was easy able to get it by changing into a gorilla and jumping into the air. He picked up the ball and charged out of the crowd of men, dashing again toward the goal line of Mad Mod's team. All six of Mod's men gave pursuit, but gorilla Beast Boy was far too strong, and none of the men could bring him down, even by grabbing onto him and pulling with all their might.

_"Take this, Mad Mod!"_ thought Beast Boy as he lumbered toward the goal line. Terra cheered him on, cupping her hands around her mouth as she shouted encouragement at him from across the field.

"Take it all the way, Beast Boy! WHOOOO!"

Beast Boy's charge was stopped inches from the goal line by Mad Mod's whistle, a piercing sound that stopped the gorilla in his tracks and caused him to turn around.

"Foul! Foul! Gorillas can't play rugby!"

And in the distraction, one of the men managed to smack the ball out of Beast Boy's hands. Now, all six men were again charging toward the other end of the field, passing the ball back and forth.

"Oh no you don't!" shouted Cyborg, tackling one of the men just as he was about to receive a pass. The ball sailed past him and nearly out of bounds, before Robin did a flying leap and snared in the ball, passing it backward to Terra, standing in front of the Titans' goal line.

"Run, Terra!" shouted Robin, pointing toward the other end of the field. Terra began to run, but the only thing she saw in front of her were six bodies, rapidly coming her way. In her panic, she looked for someone to pass to, but found no one behind her... and she knew from her brief stay in Australia that one isn't allowed to pass the ball forward in rugby. She crouched to the ground and bowed her head... and the entire stadium began to shake. The six men coming toward her, and everyone in the crowd were knocked off their feet. Robin, Cyborg, and Beast Boy were able to remain standing, but their attention was immediately drawn to Terra, who suddenly found herself unable to stop the quake she'd created.

_"Oh no..." _thought Terra, glancing around the stadium and noticing that the pillars holding up the bleachers were beginning to crack. _"If I don't stop this, everyone in the stadium will be...!"_

She didn't even want to think of what lay at the end of that sentence... and even Mad Mod, who had also been knocked to the ground by the force of the jolting, was a bit terrified by this power that Terra was showing.

"Hey! Hey! There's definitely no earthquakes in rugby! You stop this right now!"

Terra looked wide-eyed around the stadium, as the screams of its hypnotized occupants in the stands began filling her head. Even with their minds controlled by Mad Mod, the people in the stands were still fearful of dying, and the severe jolt that was shaking the stadium was enough to make _anyone _think of their own mortality.

"Terra, the men are down, you can stop now..." said Beast Boy, looking over at Terra with concern, having no idea that she was again losing control of her own powers. "Terra?"

"I don't think she _can _stop it, BB!" shouted Cyborg, his own worry and terror beginning to grow. "Robin, you gotta do something!"

"Terra, you have to calm down! If you calm down, the shaking will stop! Just..."

"I can't!" shouted Terra, rebuking Robin's advice and rising to her feet. She clenched her fists and began to tremble, tears slowly making their way down her cheeks. _"He's right... I have to calm down... just... just remember what Beast Boy said... I have a choice... I always have a choice... I can control this... this isn't... this isn't beyond my control..."_

Slowly, as Terra began to breathe, the shaking subsided. A few seconds later, the shaking completely stopped. Almost immediately, the crowd again began to boo, and this time, threw things at Terra instead of Robin. She crouched down as beer bottles and food rained upon her, covering her head and occasionally offering a quiet sob. The rugby ball lay on the field next to her, and Mod's six men immediately rushed over and picked it up, dashing across the goal line for an easy score.

_"Terra..." _thought Beast Boy, quickly dashing over to comfort the girl who was crouched down on the ground. Cyborg attempted to follow him, but immediately disappeared and reappeared in the penalty box with Starfire and Raven.

"Damn," said Cyborg quietly, looking at Terra through the glowing bars of the penalty box. "I just hope she'll be okay..."

Beast Boy wrapped his arms around Terra, pressing his face gently to hers and using his hands to wipe the tears from her cheeks. She didn't move at first, but slowly picked herself up, leaning on Beast Boy as she rose from the ground.

"Beast Boy..." Terra sniffled, rubbing her hand across the front of her nose. She was still shaking slightly, terrified that she'd almost destroyed the stadium and the people inside it with her powers... which she thought she had almost complete control over. "I-"

"You stopped the shaking, Terra..." Beast Boy replied, looking into her eyes. "You... you didn't hurt anyone... it's all right..."

Robin observed the two from near the center of the field, occasionally shooting a worried glance over to the penalty box, where three of his friends now anxiously paced, their only hope being that the others manage to pull through.

"Can we _please _get this show on the road? The crowd is restless, especially after blondie over there nearly shook them to death," said Mad Mod, pointing with his cane toward Terra and Beast Boy. Terra looked up and shot Mad Mod a glare of hatred before turning to Beast Boy, hands tightly gripping his.

"We... we have to do this," said Terra, in as determined a voice as she could muster. "We have to stop him..."

Beast Boy nodded, and walked back with Terra toward the center of the field, where Robin and Mod's six men were waiting for them.

"It's gonna be all right, Terra..." Beast Boy whispered to her, trying to encourage his blonde friend as much as he could. "We just... we just have to concentrate on winning this game and helping our friends and all these people..."

The whistle blew, and Mod's six men rushed forward again, one of them picking up the ball and dashing out in front of the others. Robin faced down the man with the ball and jumped into the air, striking the man in the face with a kick that knocked him flat on his back. The ball flew out of his hand and into the hands of another white-shirted man, who was able to run a few steps before Beast Boy headbutted him in the stomach and forced the ball from his hand. The ball flew into the air, and another of the white-shirted men, flanked by three others, got up under it, their hands in the air.

_"All right..." _thought Terra, her knees wobbling as she stared at the four men under the ball. _"You can use your powers to stop these guys... just... just keep it under control..."_

Another earthquake shook the field, but this one lasted for less than a second, and was localized completely under the four men who were going for the ball. All of them fell to the ground, and the ball landed in the hands of Robin, who leaped over the downed men and charged toward the opposite end, toward Mad Mod's goal line. One of Mod's men leaped out in front of him, so he quickly passed the ball to Beast Boy, a few feet behind him and to his left. Beast Boy caught the ball and made a mad dash straight for the goal line, with nothing but open field ahead of him.

Inside the penalty box, Cyborg and Starfire could see Beast Boy running toward the goal, and jumped into the air, furiously clapping their hands in encouragement. Raven, sitting on the ground and being her typical, sarcastic self, simply twirled her hand in the air a couple of times.

"Yay," she said, in a completely monotone voice. Beast Boy continued to run, and was just a few feet from the goal line... when suddenly, out of nowhere, a naked man charged into Beast Boy, tackling him hard to the ground and knocking the ball from his hands. The naked man got off of Beast Boy and began running around the field, making strange noises and pumping his fists in the air.

"MAD MOD! MAD MOD! MAD MOD!" shouted the naked man, his chest and back bearing a tattoo of the British flag. Robin and Terra watched the man in shock and disgust, completely ignoring the members of Mod's team, who picked up the ball and carried it into the Titans' goal.

"You have got... to be kidding me..." Robin said, his mouth open in shock as he watched the streaker dash across the field and leap back into the crowd, exchanging high-fives with his rowdy friends. Before Robin could say anything else, he disappeared and reappeared in the penalty box, still in shock from what he had seen.

Beast Boy and Terra were equally shocked... and that shock quickly became replaced with anger when they realized what Mad Mod had done.

"That's a tough break, but you know what they say about British sports fans... they're the best fans in the whole bloody world, am I right?" shouted Mad Mod, prompting an enormous cheer from the crowd.

Now it was two on six... the Titans were just two goals away from being eradicated by Mad Mod's twisted machinations. Beast Boy and Terra walked slowly to their goalline, neither of them looking even remotely sure that they were going to win.

"This has gotten bad... _really _bad," said Beast Boy, shaking his head. "I have no idea how we're gonna beat these guys!"

"It was _me _who suggested trying to beat them in the first place..." Terra replied sadly. "If the blame should go on anyone for this, it's me."

"Terra, are you _kidding _me?" replied Beast Boy, his eyes widening. "There's no one to blame for this... we're a _team_, remember? We win as a team, and we lose as a team... we don't just go around looking for people to blame, that's not what teams do!"

Beast Boy was right... Terra had been blaming herself for _everything_, but if she wanted to be a Teen Titan, she would have to realize that a team shares equal responsibility for both victory and defeat. The roar of the crowd nearly drowned out Terra's thoughts, but her mind was racing anyway... racing as quickly as it ever had before.

_"They trust me... after all I've done, they trust me..."_

Terra still felt enormous guilt, but that guilt wasn't helping her now. The only thing that was important now was defeating Mad Mod and saving the Titans and all the people in the stadium... and it was going to be up to Terra and Beast Boy to do it. Beast Boy looked over at Terra, his eyes narrowed, a look of pure determination on her face.

"Terra... are you ready to-"

"Let's finish this."

As soon as Terra spoke, the whistle rang again, and Mod's six men came charging down the field toward the Titans' goalline, running in a tight formation with one of the men slightly in front, the ball in his hands.

"Beast Boy, I have an idea!" shouted Terra, pointing straight at the lead man in the six-man crowd. "You change into any animal that can put him on the ground, then go right at him!"

Beast Boy nodded, transforming into an elephant and running toward the crowd of men, which immediately broke off into a wide, spread-out formation. As soon as elephant Beast Boy was close, one of the men passed off the ball to one of his teammates out of Beast Boy's path. The ball never got there, for it was intercepted by a leaping Terra, who caught the ball in her hands and dashed toward the opposing goalline.

"This time, nobody's catching up," said Terra, looking behind her to see all six men now giving chase as she ran toward the goal. With a smile, she nodded her head, and an enormous wall of rock burst up in the middle of the field in front of the six men, causing them to smack into it and blocking them off from catching Terra, who ran to the end of the field and scored an easy goal. As soon as she was past the goalline, the wall dropped, revealing six downed men in the center of the field. Six quickly became five as the man on the very right disappeared and reappeared in a penalty box on the goalline opposite from where the Titans were being held.

"You can't do that!" shouted Mad Mod, angrily jumping up and down on the sidelines. With a smile, Terra tossed him the ball.

"I just did," replied Terra, giving Beast Boy a high five as the two met near the center of the field. The four Titans in the penalty box, including Raven, all cheered, loud enough to be heard over the raucous and angry crowd in the stands.

"Now just do that five more times and Mad Mod will really be in trouble!" shouted Cyborg. With an angry cry, Mad Mod threw the ball back out onto the field and blew his whistle.

This time, Terra got to the ball first, and before any of the men could get to her, she raised a tall platform of rock under her feet, lifting her high into the air and out of reach of any of her opponents. She created several more platforms in front of her, creating an aerial path straight to the goalline. After the path was made, it was just a matter of leaping from rock to rock until she was safely past the goal. Another of Mod's men disappeared, and Terra gracefully lowered herself to the ground.

"That... that's completely illegal!" shouted Mad Mod, pointing the gem of his cane angrily at Terra. "I'm warning you, ducky... any more tricks like that and I'll throw you into the penalty box! I swear it!"

Terra simply laughed, giving Beast Boy another high five as the ball was once again thrown out into the center of the field. The blonde was getting her powers clearly under control... and what's more, she was having fun helping the Titans defeat a villain. Her guilt was still there, but at least temporarily, it had been replaced by excitement... as well as happiness. She could see Beast Boy smiling at her, and for a moment, even the traumatic earthquake experience just a few minutes ago was temporarily forgotten.

The men, now only four in number, rushed toward the ball with ferocity... ferocity that turned to terror when Beast Boy transformed into a t-rex and stood in front of the ball, letting out a loud roar. In the face of such a fearsome creature, even the burliest, toughest of men will cower, and they ran to either side of the field, clearing a path for Terra to take the ball to the goal a third time.

Mad Mod angrily rung his referee's uniform in his hands as yet another member of his team was placed in the penalty box. The crowd was growing more and more restless, and some of the objects that were thrown from the field even hit Mad Mod in the head, just serving to make him even more angry.

_"I've gotta finish this..." _thought Mad Mod, holding the rugby ball in his hands. _"My team... it's coming unglued, my plan to take out the Titans is all going to pot! Well, no more, it's time for them to see what true madness is like!"_

Instead of rolling the ball back onto the field, Mad Mod instead turned to the ground... and popped the ball with the end of his cane.

"This game's been canceled on account of cheaters!" shouted Mad Mod, pointing his cane at the penalty box that contained the three trapped men on his own team and making the box vanish, freeing the men. When the crowd heard that the game had been canceled, they went into an even bigger frenzy, and more objects were tossed onto the field. Beast Boy and Terra, standing right in the center, stood together and wondered what Mad Mod could possibly be doing... while the other Titans huddled in the penalty box, helpless to do anything. "You wanna blame someone? Blame THOSE TWO!"

Mad Mod pointed his cane at Terra and Beast Boy, and immediately, members of the crowd began charging onto the field. An all-out stampede had begun. Mod, having safely transported himself to the press box, had the best seat in the house as the stampeding crowd rushed toward Terra and Beast Boy.

"Beast Boy, what do we do?" shouted Terra, her eyes widening as the crowd drew closer. "We can't... we can't attack _them_, so-"

"Now it's _my _turn to have an idea," said Beast Boy, transforming into a condor and picking up Terra in his talons, lifting the two of them off of the ground just before they would have been trampled. Beast Boy flew with Terra up to the press box and crashed through the window, causing the two of them to land in a heap at Mad Mod's feet. "Unnh... maybe that wasn't such a good idea..."

"You're damn right it wasn't a good idea!" shouted Mad Mod, pointing his cane right at Terra and Beast Boy. "And now, the two of you are-"

It was then that Terra smashed the gem at the end of Mod's cane, using a rock that she'd levitated into her hand while she and Beast Boy had been in the air. Mad Mod gasped and stumbled back, his mouth agape and his eyes wide. In almost an instant, Mod's red hair shrunk and turned gray, while his arms and legs became weak and withered. The now elderly supervillain stumbled toward the back of the press box, while Terra stood stunned, still holding the rock in her hand.

"...if I'd have known that that would actually worked, I probably would've done it sooner..." said Terra, dropping the rock onto the ground. She turned to Beast Boy, who had an equally stunned, but far more ecstatic look on his face.

"Terra, that was awesome!" shouted Beast Boy, wrapping his arms tightly around Terra's back. Terra returned the hug quickly, and as the two embraced, Mad Mod attempted to leave by sneaking out through the press box door.

He was quickly blocked by Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, and Raven, who'd been freed from the penalty box as soon as Mod's gem had been smashed.

"I pretty much assume that you're going to come quietly," said Raven, prompting a meek nod from the now-elderly villain.

Down on the field, which was once again a _baseball _field, the people whom just moments ago had been rioting and stampeding now stood bewildered on the dirt and grass, wondering just how in the world they'd gotten down on the field in the first place.

One of the people on the field was particularly bewildered... and for a very good reason.

"WHY AM I NAKED!"

O-O-O

Back at Titans Tower, the Titans had all gathered in the main room... Terra had something important to say, and, though she didn't know it, Robin and the others had something important to say to her.

She stood in front of them as they gathered on the couches and chairs facing her... after all that had happened that day, Terra knew that she had to say something that she'd never gotten the chance to say to them before. After she'd decided to attack Slade, everything had happened so quickly... she never got to tell her friends that she was sorry for betraying them.

"...I just... I just want to thank you... thank you for everything you've done for me, even though I don't deserve it," said Terra, looking into the eyes of each and every Titan in the group... Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Raven... and especially Beast Boy. "I betrayed all of you, and... and there's nothing I can do that is sufficient to earn your trust again. I just want to say that... that I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything."

"Terra... we have already forgiven you," said Starfire, standing up and smiling at Terra. "You have proven that you are truly a good person, and... though you have made mistakes... so have the rest of us. We are just grateful that you are safe... and that you are here with us again."

"Starfire's right, Terra..." said Cyborg, also standing up and looking at Terra. "Not just today, but... what you did back there, to stop that volcano from destroying the city... you could have left with us, but you didn't. Only a true hero could've done something like that, Terra..."

Robin then stood up and walked over to Terra, his right hand held behind his back.

"You don't need to feel guilty anymore, Terra... I think I speak for all of us when I say, welcome back to the team."

And with that, Robin pulled out a Titan communicator... holding it out for Terra to take. She gasped and widened her eyes, staring at it for several seconds.

"I... I..."

"Terra..." Beast Boy raised his head and looked at her, giving her a smile. Terra looked at him, then back at Robin.

"I... I couldn't control my powers, even today, I-"

"We're here... we're all here to help you, Terra," said Robin, as sincerely as he could. "If you need _any _help... that's what we're here for. We're all friends here, and we're all out to help one another as best we can. I give you my word as a Teen Titan that if you need _anything_, any training, anyone to talk to... we're all here for you."

After several more seconds, Terra reached out with her trembling hand and slowly took the communicator, pulling it close to her and looking at Robin again.

"I... I promise you, I won't let you down. Not you, or Starfire, or Cyborg, or Raven, or Beast Boy..."

Terra took one last look at the communicator, and then clipped it to her waist, still maintaining a nervous look in her eyes.

_"I... I hope I just made the right decision..."_

O-O-O

And while a meeting of the Titans was taking place in Titans Tower, another, far more sinister meeting was taking place on the 58th floor of the Mycoso Building, where the remaining four members of the cabal that had planned Project Shattered Earth were now regrouping and reforming their plans to gain money and power from the destruction of Jump City.

Frederick Dullahan sat in his familiar place at the head of the table, while the faithful Sedaris stood to his right, his hands together at his waist. Seated at the first seat on the left of the table was Jarvin Sr., who, for some reason, looked much less nervous than he had been just three days earlier, despite the fact that the group's plans had taken a turn for the worse. Jarvin Jr. also looked confident, though not nearly as much so as his father.

"The Crisis Crystal is gone, gentlemen... Project Shattered Earth is officially a massive failure."

Dullahan's voice contained no sign of alarm... no sadness, or anger... it was neutral, as if he were simply stating a fact. Which is exactly what he happened to be doing.

"We did manage to recover the quantum computer, intact, from the site," continued Dullahan, a sly smile on his face. "It seems that the Titans, in their excitement over their friend's return, forgot to take it... and the thief seems to have had a serious lapse in the head, or a sudden attack of conscience. Whatever the reason, we still have the prototype computer. Either way, the computer simply makes our task a _bit _easier... and yes, gentlemen, our task remains. Project Shattered Earth has failed, but our mission... our mission is alive and well. If there's one thing I've learned in my thirty years of business, it's that you must always have a contigency plan... which brings me to you, Nicholas. You've been working with people at your company LaredoSoft for the past week now, carefully gathering the pieces we need for our _new _project... am I correct?"

"You are absolutely correct," replied Jarvin Sr., a confident smile remaining on his face. "I honestly didn't think I'd be needed quite as much as I am today... but that doesn't mean I didn't prepare, just in case."

Jarvin Sr., was of course, the understudy to Ruell's lead character... should Ruell fail to perform his duties, the understudy would have to step in... and Nicholas Jarvin was ready to give a command performance.

"In just a few days, I will have the city on its knees," said Jarvin Sr., his steely gaze fixed toward Dullahan. "Project Trembling Heaven is about to begin."

O-O-O

The night sky bathed the roof of Titans Tower with a faint, beautiful glow, the stars and moon mixing with the light provided by the city skyline to give the Tower a radiant elegance that couldn't be achieved during the day.

Terra sat on the roof, her feet dangling over the side, looking down at the Titan communicator she held in her hand. Just twenty-four hours removed from being a statue, they trusted her enough to put her on the team again... but this time, she truly _was _ready to be a hero, and not just a mole planted by Slade.

It still terrified her... what had almost happened in the stadium that day. Thousands, tens of thousands could've been killed if Terra hadn't managed to reign in her powers, quite possibly at the last second. She stared at her reflection in the blank screen of the communicator... and noticed that she was about to tear up again.

She reached up to instinctively brush the tear away when she felt a soft hand on her shoulder... she looked up and saw Beast Boy, smiling down at her. Quickly closing her communicator, she rose to her feet and clipped it to her waist before turning to Beast Boy, her hands at her sides. The changeling could immediately tell that Terra wasn't in the highest of spirits.

"Terra... you saved every person in that stadium today... including all of the Titans," said Beast Boy. "Robin said he'd do everything he could to help you... and so am I, Terra. I won't... I won't let anything bad happen to you..."

Terra knew Beast Boy would try to cheer her up... but it wasn't that she was sad... she was afraid, afraid that she might hurt someone, afraid that the would hurt the Titans again... that she would hurt Beast Boy again.

And then, Beast Boy remembered that he had hurt her.

"Terra... it's my fault... it's my fault you ended up going with Slade-"

"Are you kidding, Beast Boy?" Terra replied, bowing her head sadly. "I chose to follow him, I chose to be his apprentice and to betray you... and-"

"Terra..."

Beast Boy's hand gently went to the girl's chin, lifting it up so that her eyes met his. She tried to turn her head away, but he gently kept her focused on him... he had something to say, and he was going to say it now... no matter what.

"When you asked me if I would still be your friend, even if you told me something horrible... I said yes... and then... then when I found out about you being with Slade, I..."

Now Beast Boy was the one beginning to tear up, and Terra could see the guilt clearly present on Beast Boy's face.

"Beast Boy, you were right to-"

"NO, Terra... I wasn't. When you trusted in me... when you were afraid, and lonely, and even though Slade had ordered you to come with him, you still weren't sure... it was then that I told you that you didn't have any friends... and that... that's what made you go to him, Terra..."

Beast Boy was right... and Terra knew it. She was ready to turn her back on Slade... to go back with the Titans and to try to earn their trust again... but when Beast Boy turned his back on her, she was crushed... and it was the final straw that turned her completely over to Slade.

Nothing that Terra could say was going to convince Beast Boy that it hadn't been entirely his fault that she'd gone over to Slade... just like there was nothing Beast Boy could say that would convince Terra she wasn't a horrible person for joining him.

But they could both try... and maybe, just maybe, with each other's support and love... they could find a way to mend all the wounds of their past.

"I just wish... I just wish there was a way to go back to that Ferris wheel..." said Beast Boy sadly, looking up into the sky. "Just like... all of this never happened..."

"Maybe... maybe there is a way," said Terra, gently reaching up and placing her hand behind Beast Boy's head. He lowered his face to look into her eyes... and that's when she leaned toward him, her eyes beginning to close. Slowly, Beast Boy closed his eyes as well, and wrapped his arms around Terra's back.

And with the light of the moon and the stars shining upon them, Beast Boy and Terra completed on the roof of Titans Tower the kiss they'd begun on that Ferris wheel nearly a year before.

O-O-O

Okay, I KNOW some fans are gonna be pissed with this chapter... and I don't mean BbxRae fans. I'm talking about Red X fans! I definitely know a certain VERY faithful reviewer who's not gonna be too happy with this completely Sanza-less chapter... I hope you like this chapter anyway, while assuring all of Red X's fans that there won't be another chapter like this the rest of the way... or will there? Heheheheheh... actually, Red X fans are gonna LOVE the next chapter, I promise all of you more of the costumed thief than you can handle!


	8. The Dogs Of War

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Teen Titans. If I did, this would be on TV and not here.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This doesn't take place in the same storyline as my "Forced Base" and "Fractured Heart" stories, so forget those when you're reading this. Also, about Sanza/Red X: When he's wearing the mask, he's Red X. When he's not, he's Sanza. Simple as that.

SECOND AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a sequel to "The Life and Times of Red X", which is in my profile. Read that before you read this. Also, this fic COMPLETELY IGNORES the events of the fifth season (with the exception of "Go"). For the purposes of this fic, "Things Change" NEVER HAPPENED.

O-O-O

_A dark warehouse in the industrial sector of Jump City was not the place one would normally want to find himself at night, but that's where Red X was on this particular evening, standing among large stacks of boxes and barrels as thunder rocked the skies outside. It was a very late night, and as the rain pounded the building's metallic roof, the thief was beginning to wonder whether or not his contact would show._

_"It's eleven twenty..." thought Red X, his foot tapping repeatedly against the cement floor. "She should've been here by-"_

_The large metallic door at the front of the warehouse slowly slid open, and a flash of lightning illuminated the beautiful figure standing in the center of the doorway. A red-haired goddess in a tight black leather catsuit, a lustful smile on her beautiful orange-skinned face._

_"Starfire..." the thief's mouth curled into a smile under his mask as Starfire slowly walked toward him, the smooth figure of her legs sensually displayed with every stride. Her every curve was visible under the shiny black leather, and her hands, clad in equally tight black gloves, began moving around Red X as soon as she got near. Slowly, her fingers slid along the side of his body, up to the opening separating his mask from the rest of his suit._

_"Normally I would never have quit the Titans to become your partner in crime... but you are so, so much sexier than Robin... I simply could not resist," said the Tamaranian, her light, airy voice taking on a smooth, seductive quality as she slowly began sliding the mask up the side of Sanza's face, revealing only his lips. Her fingers then slowly slid back down the sides of his face before wrapping around the back of his waist, interlocking tightly behind him. "It was the fact that you are... such a naughty, naughty boy... so rebellious... something Robin could never be."_

_By now, the thief's fingers were sliding up the front of Starfire's body... he stopped at her chest to briefly rub the tips of his fingers over her erect nipples, which could clearly be discerned under the tight catsuit, before moving around and behind her body, lacing his own fingers tightly behind her neck._

_Within seconds, he had locked lips with Starfire, and the two were exchanging a passionate kiss, their tongues rubbing quickly and freely against the other's in a litany of lust. Slowly, Sanza's fingers grasped the zipper at the back of Starfire's catsuit and began to pull it down._

_"I am not... mmm... wearing... anything under this... mmm..." Sanza's lips moving back and forth over Starfire's muffled her words as she spoke. _

_"I don't... mm... care, Starfire..."_

_"Before... before we... make the passionate love, I... I must ask you one thing..." said Starfire, as Sanza slowly slid the catsuit down over her body. Just before her breasts were revealed completely, Starfire began to speak again... in a deep, male tone. "What were the three most notable foreign policy achievements of the Nixon administration?"_

_"HUH!"_

O-O-O

And with that, Sanza's erotic dream was over, and he was rudely brought out of his midday slumber and back into the real world... that of his junior U.S. History class.

"Mr. Salazar, this is the seventh time this semester that I have caught you sleeping in my class," said Sanza's teacher Mr. Winterstein, his arms crossed over his chest as he stood to the right of Sanza's desk. The other students in the class, including Cleo, began to laugh, some laughing louder than others. "They might think it's funny, but I don't think _you'll _find it funny when I send you to the dean."

"N...no, Mr. Winterstein, please..." Sanza said sleepily, not begging so much for his teacher not to punish him as he was for just five more minutes of sleep. "I... I'll listen to your lecture, what were we talking about again?"

"Honestly, Sanza, I don't think you care about United States history at all," sighed his teacher, slowly walking back up to his desk at the front of the room. He sat down in his chair and briefly thought about taking out a referral from his desk, but decided that it just wasn't worth it to spend two minutes and several cents worth of red ink to send Sanza to the office. "But when you fail this class and you don't get to graduate from high school, don't come crying to me."

Sanza let out a long sigh as the teacher began flipping through his text book, while Cleo quickly leaned over and whispered in Sanza's ear.

"Does he know you're getting a B minus in this class anyway?" whispered Cleo, prompting Sanza to smile and nod his head. He leaned back in his chair, staring at the teacher for a few seconds before putting his head back down on his desk and letting out a barely-audible yawn.

It had been thirty-six hours since Sanza had last worn the Red X suit... thirty-six hours since Terra had been revived and the Crisis Crystal had been destroyed. The threat to the city was over, and Beast Boy had his little girlfriend back. Everything was completely fine... for the Teen Titans. Sanza still had the ever-present threat of Slade to deal with... and the best way to deal with that was to keep his skills sharp.

He was going out tonight, going out to steal. That much he knew... what he didn't know was exactly what he was going to steal, or where he would steal it from. As Mr. Winterstein began to speak again, Sanza paid little attention to the foreign policy accomplishments of the Nixon administration... it was the accomplishments of another crook, Red X, that Sanza was focusing on.

Not accomplishments in the past... but accomplishments in the future.

O-O-O

As they did nearly every single day, Sanza, Cleo, Rob, and Marcy walked out to the buses together, discussing the numerous subjects that would normally come up in a conversation between teenagers leaving school for the day. One of the immediate subjects of talk was the fact that Sanza had fallen asleep in history class... and had quite nearly been busted for it.

"Mr. Winterstein was looking at the little drawer where he pulls referrals out from," said Cleo, smirking casually at Sanza as the four friends stopped in the middle of the sidewalk facing the buses. "He really was thinking about sending you to the dean..."

"Wouldn't be the first time," replied Sanza, his hands in his pockets.

"No shit, Sherlock," said Rob, prompting Marcy to elbow him hard in the side. "Well it's true! Sanza gets in trouble even more than I do!"

"Okay, so the time you got suspended for playing with the school's emergency defibrillator completely doesn't count, does it?" asked Marcy, narrowing her eyes and repeatedly poking Rob on the shoulder. "They were thinking about expelling you for that!"

"They only gave you a suspension when they realized you weren't trying to steal it and were just screwing around with it," said Sanza, placing his hands deeper in his pockets as a cool spring breeze rushed by the assembled group of friends. "Still... those things _are _kinda dangerous."

"Speaking of dangerous things, it's a good thing you _didn't _get detention, because tomorrow after school I'm heading right to the convention center for that big military expo that's about to start," said Rob, holding up a clipping he'd gotten from the paper that morning. On the clipping were several pictures of soldiers and various military weapons, as well as dates and times for the expo. "Any of you guys wanna go with me?"

"I'll pass," Cleo said, rolling her eyes and turning to Sanza. "Actually, Sanza... tomorrow night if you're not busy, maybe you and I can go out together... have dinner, see a movie, maybe go up on the hills and make out..."

Sanza blushed, and Cleo immediately started to laugh, while Marcy giggled and Rob nudged Sanza repeatedly in the side.

"She's practically begging you to have sex with her, man..." whispered Rob, extremely quietly so that only Sanza could hear. "You're definitely gonna score... if you need condoms I can totally hook you up."

Sanza turned away from Rob and back toward Cleo, briefly glancing at her body before returning his gaze to her face and smiling warmly. She too had some nice curves, at least from what Sanza could tell from what her white tanktop and red flannel jacket revealed to him. Her face was pretty as well, blue eyes, orange-red hair, and cute freckles adorning her cheeks... she bore a slight resemblance to Starfire, though her skin was much paler, a pale peach as opposed to Starfire's bronzy orange.

And she was funny as well... funny, sweet, and certainly a girl one could grow to love... which Sanza had done, though much more slowly than he'd fallen for Starfire. He had his share of lustful thoughts about Cleo... certainly nothing like the dream he'd had about Starfire earlier that day, but nonetheless...

"Of course I'll go with you, Cleo... tomorrow night at seven, maybe?"

Cleo nodded, before noticing that the row of buses behind Sanza and Rob were starting to move... their conversation had dragged just a bit long.

"Tomorrow night it is, I'll meet you at your house... you'd better hurry and catch your bus though!" Cleo said, leaning in and kissing Sanza briefly on the lips before running to board her own bus. Marcy split from the group as well, waving to Sanza and Rob as the two rushed to climb onto their bus, finding an empty seat near the back and sitting down quickly.

"Hey... you know, Sanza, that still gives you plenty of time to come to the expo with me tomorrow after school," said Rob, again pulling out the newspaper clipping and holding it up to Sanza's face. "We'll have like three whole hours to see all the cool tanks and stuff, it'll be fun, whatd'ya say?"

Sanza stared at the clipping... he really was unable to keep from looking at it, as it had been thrust right into his face... and an idea started to pop into his head. The part of his mind that had been ceded to Red X began working in overdrive, and within just a few seconds, he knew exactly where he was going to steal from next. Unlike an office building or a freight ship, a convention center was a large, open area, most likely with few guards. The openness of the place meant that it was easy to escape any guards that _did _happen to see you... it would be a perfect heist for Red X.

And with plenty of military technology just lying out in the open, the thief would have many different items to choose from. It would be like taking candy from a baby... or in this case, guns from an army. Normally, the difficulty of those two tasks would be starkly different, but for Red X, all things were easy.

"Uh, Sanza?" asked Rob, waving his hand slowly in front of his friend's face. "So, do you want to come with me, or not?"

"Uh... sure, yeah," Sanza stammered, quickly blinking to recover his thoughts. _"Silly, silly Rob... when I get done with that place tonight, there won't _be _any expo tomorrow..."_

O-O-O

Sanza had been able to repair the Red X suit with relative ease the previous day, using Xynothium to patch the various burns made in the suit by Monster Ruell's acid vomit. The Xynothium had been patched over the tears, and had seemingly melted into the material, making the suit look as good as new... a feature that Sanza was grateful to Robin for putting in the suit. He'd wanted to watch baseball after fixing the suit, but for some reason, the baseball game had turned into a rugby game... and the Titans were playing.

_"Not the first time the Titans have ruined my day..." _thought Sanza, now reclining in a chair in the living room of his family's apartment, staring listlessly at the television. His sister was up in her room, doing homework and listening to music, while his mother was in the kitchen, making dinner. He could already smell the cabbage cooking, and wasn't looking forward to whatever his mother was planning to make. "Mom, you know that smells horrible, right?"

She didn't even reply, and the smell only got stronger as the minutes wore on. It certainly wasn't good to Sanza that he was about to go to battle on a stomach that might only be partially-filled, as he couldn't see himself eating very much of whatever his mother was cooking. Now that there were _six _Titans, if they did decide to show up while Sanza was at the convention center tonight, the odds were most certainly in their favor. It would have to be a quick job... in and out, and this time, he would bring something home to show for it.

_"Who knows, I might even get to steal a tank," _thought Sanza, looking at the screen as an advertisement for the convention began to play. _"Am I kidding? The Titans would almost _certainly _come after me then."_

Then again, Sanza couldn't help but chuckle as he imagined what Slade's face would look like when Red X came crashing into his headquarters inside of a giant tank. It was only a fantasy, but a welcome one at that... though not quite as welcome as the ones he had about Starfire.

Sanza continued his train of thought, his mind now drifting to the new member of the team... the blonde girl with the amazing powers over the earth. Terra was her name, and she was certainly a looker... Sanza wouldn't have minded seeing her in a black catsuit either, though as figures go, she didn't have the perfect body that Starfire did... the only thing better about Terra was her eyes, a piercing, beautiful blue.

_"If she shows up with the others, what could I possibly use on her? Robin didn't build this suit with her in mind, so..."_

It had been briefly battle-tested against Terra when she'd been under the crystal's control, but everything Red X had thrown at her had been a complete bust. Binding cables, bombs, shurikens, she beat them all and kept on coming. Her powers were formidable and ferocious, and she'd been able to best him even quicker than Robin had.

_"I'll think of something... I just hope I don't have to tonight."_

"Sanza, Maddalena, supper's done!"

Maria's call had brought the foul smell of the cabbage back to the forefront of Sanza's mind... though the smell coming from the kitchen was no longer quite as unpleasant, and as Sanza stood up from the chair and made the short walk to the kitchen table, he realized that whatever his mother made couldn't possibly taste as bad as whatever it was he'd smelt earlier. In seventeen years of cooking for Sanza, she'd almost never made a bad meal for him...

And Sanza knew that a good, home-cooked meal was exactly what he needed to give him strength before his upcoming mission. If he really _was _going to have to fight six Titans, he'd need all the energy he could get.

O-O-O

The convention center, a large building that took up nearly an entire block of downtown Jump City, stood illuminated by large, bright yellow lights mounted on its roof, which curved upward in a gentle slope before then sloping back downward, giving the facade of the roof a half-circle shape.

The roof was where Red X was planning to make his entrance, after having climbed up the side of the building quickly, without being detected. The roof itself was about sixty feet above the ground, its length and width identical to that of a football field, giving the exhibition room of the building a wide-open, expansive feel. The thief stood right at the center of the roof, making a small, X-shaped hole in the ceiling wide enough to poke his head through.

"Let's see here..." X's eyes scanned out over the room, which had been carefully laid out and sectioned-off for the next day's exhibit. He could see hundreds of displays lit up in dim blue light, with empty, hall-like space in-between. Occasionally he would see a security guard passing between two of the exhibits, shining his flashlight back and forth before moving on. _"I need to find a place I can land without being caught immediately..."_

Toward the center of the room stood a large sign marked 'Bunker Busting Technology: Behind Today's Biggest Bombs', in front of which stood several glass cases. Inside one of the cases, a large, cylindrical object was laid out, while several other cases contained smaller objects, including metallic bomb parts and several objects that looked like computer discs. Next to that display was a cubicle-like room, in which stood several racks of guns and grenades.

When it appeared as if there were no guards approaching, the thief created a larger hole in the roof and dropped down through it, stopping himself from hitting the floor by blasting two of the glass cases and two of the gun racks with Xs. The four Xs dissolved and formed a large, X-shaped trampoline beneath the thief, which he landed on to slow his fall. Instead of propelling him back into the air, it disappeared, and he had a safe drop to the ground of only a few inches. He quickly stood up and crouched behind the wooden base of a glass box, concealing himself from view as a security guard walked by.

Red X was in... and every single thing present in the expo was potentially his. All he had to do was find what he wanted and get out of the building. He peered into one of the glass cases and saw several very-shiny looking metallic objects, obviously a part of the bunker buster bomb being displayed in the case behind him.

_"These are nice... but I'm not building a bomb, I want something that's actually valuable..." _Red X quickly ducked out of the display and gazed up, trying to find a sign that indicated actual objects of interest. There were guns, tanks... many different planes on display, including a full recreation of a stealth fighter jet toward the back of the room. _"That would be awesome to fly around if it weren't just a model... then again, where the hell could I possibly park it?"_

Besides the signs posted around the expo to display the names of the individual exhibits, there were also other signs posted with names of companies on them, obviously the names of the companies that designed some of the weapons and software being displayed.

As he walked past another row of exhibits, Red X could see that every single modern software company was well-represented in the various displays of high-grade software. One company name rang particularly familiar in his mind... as if he'd heard the name somewhere before.

A large display of glass cases sat under a sign marked 'LaredoSoft: Winning The Wars Of Past, Present, and Future'. Several computers inhabited the cases, as well as a wide assortment of floppy and compact disks. A television screen mounted on one of the boxes showed the various tasks that the company's software instructed military robots to perform... but Red X's attention was drawn to something in the case under the television. A beige object about a foot wide, consisting of two circular disks with a narrower but much fatter disc inbetween, its surface shining under the reflection of the light given off by the television screen.

_"That might be worth some money," _said Red X, closely eyeballing the object. _"If I could just figure out what it is..."_

"Hey you! Freeze!"

Red X turned toward the voice, which came from about several feet away. He was staring not into the barrel of a gun, but into a bright flashlight that was being shone directly into his eyes. The flashlight was held by a man who appeared to be in his sixties, wearing a tan security uniform and blue jeans. Clearly, the man wasn't Baddalax material, and Red X didn't seem threatened in the least.

"You might wanna put that light down, old man," said Red X, raising an arm to shield his face from the blinding light. "I'm warning you, I don't want to have to kick the ass of somebody who has grandkids."

"Now... now you just stay right there, I'm gonna call the police and-"

A much younger, deeper voice than the old man's interrupted him from behind.

"Step aside, we'll take it from here, sir."

The old man did as he was told, and two much younger men took his place. They were both dressed in camouflage jumpsuits, and wore green helmets with 'MP' marked above the brim in bright, white letters. Red X took a step back, going into a defensive stance. He knew _exactly _who these gentlemen were.

"Military police..." he said quietly, bristling as the men both leveled guns at his head. _"This is just great..."_

"You're going to need to come with us, sir," said the first MP, his finger tightly wrapping around the trigger of his gun. "We are authorized to use lethal force."

"You'll have to catch me first," said Red X, somersaulting backward while firing a large, metallic X at both men to catch them off guard. They discharged their weapons, but the bullets all slammed into the X, bouncing harmlessly off of it. The metallic X then hit both men at once, pushing them all the way past several exhibits and back into the wall. As they groaned and quickly recovered, Red X turned left and dashed down into another area of the large room, swinging into an exhibit named 'Robotics and The Military: Soldier of the 21st Century'. He could hear the voices of more MPs nearby, and quickly realized that he may have bitten off more than he could chew. Looking up next to him, he could see a large, gray humanoid robot, bearing few distinguishing features on its body, save for a face that bore a pair of light-up eyes, a nose, and a set of realistic-looking lips. It was wearing a helmet nearly identical to those worn by the MPs chasing him, without the lettering in front. "Hmmm..."

The two soldiers whom X had knocked into the wall were now giving pursuit, and were joined by four more soldiers, expanding the group to six in all. The six men charged together as a unit toward an exhibit adjacent to the robot display, and X could hear their footsteps getting closer and closer.

"We'll fan out into these two exhibits, we've got the entrances guarded so there's no way he's getting out," said one of the soldiers, gesturing for three of the men to go left while the other three turned right, into the robot exhibit. As soon as they turned, they came face-to-face with the large, humanoid soldier robot, its eyes shining a bright red.

"KILL ALL HUMANS!" said the robot, in a deep, menacing voice. Of course, a few feet behind the robot, Red X was crouched down with a large remote control in his hands, speaking into a small microphone built into the remote to make the robot talk. The three men immediately pointed their guns at the robot and discharged a hail of gunfire. The bullets made small dents in the robot's metallic frame, but otherwise did no damage at all. "Bullets cannot harm me! I am superior to you pathetic humans! Surrender to me! Surrender!"

The robot lumbered forward and punched one of the soldiers in the face, knocking him to the ground. The other two men, realizing that the thief they were chasing was probably controlling the robot from nearby, attemped to get around the lumbering metallic man, only to have it reach out and grab them both by the neck.

"Foolish humans, it is pointless to resist!" the robot shouted, just before slamming both men into a nearby wall. Because the men were wearing helmets, the impact didn't knock them out immediately... so the robot tossed both soldiers away, flinging them through the glass cases in another nearby exhibit.

The three soldiers who had gone into the exhibit nearby weren't too happy to see their squadmates flung through the air, and quickly charged into the robot exhibit. The robot that X had commandeered was now powered-down, and the only thing that the three men saw when they reached the exhibit was the unmoving robot and a discarded remote control.

"He didn't... he didn't use this thing to take out the others, did he?" asked one of the MPs, picking up the remote and cradling it in his hands.

"Yeah, I did," came X's voice from behind the men, prompting all of them to turn around. "But I won't have to to take out the three of you."

Before the men could lift their guns, X had shot the three of them with binding cables, keeping their arms tightly at their sides. He then kicked all three men in the face, knocking them to the ground in a daze.

"Military or not, there's nobody on earth who can contain a guy like me," said Red X, taunting the three men before turning around and walking back toward the LaredoSoft exhibit. "And now to claim my-"

A powerful laser blast slammed into the ground just behind Red X, knocking him off his feet and sending him face-first into the floor. He rolled around onto his back and looked up... and standing just a few feet in front of him was the large robot which he'd used just moments ago to fight three of the MPs. Next to the robot was the elderly security guard from before, now holding the remote control in his hands.

"I'm not such an old man now, am I, sonny?" shouted the old man, pressing a button on the remote and causing the robot's eyes to light up. It quickly fired two more laser blasts, forcing Red X to scoot back rapidly across the ground, barely avoiding being burnt to a crisp.

_"Oh, shit..." _thought Red X, nervously picking himself up from the ground. _"Just my luck to run across the one badass rent-a-cop in the entire world..."_

Red X quickly turned and ran toward the back wall, leaping over a shattered display case as the robot charged forward toward him at a very fast clip.

_"He knows how to make it RUN!" _

As the robot dashed toward Red X, it continued firing lasers out of its eyes, blowing up two display cases in a large, fiery explosion which nearly knocked the thief down again. Once he reached the wall, he ran along it until he found himself an opening, then ducked through that opening and dashed as far to the back of whatever room he'd entered as he could. It was only after he'd slowed down and looked around that he realized exactly where he'd chosen as his hiding place.

"...a women's restroom," X mused to himself, seeing rows and rows of empty stalls without a urinal in sight. Several changing tables also lined the walls, and a large, well-lit mirror was mounted on a wall near the front of the room. As he slumped against the back wall and began to catch his breath, he could hear a loud, metallic shuffling from outside, and knew that the robotic soldier was drawing closer and closer. The old man had apparently seen X go into the bathroom, and now the thief immediately regretted his decision, knowing that he had little chance against the robot in an enclosed space.

_"I could try phasing out of here... I'd be out of the convention center and probably safe... but then I'd be leaving empty handed, and I promised myself I wouldn't come back home unless I stole something. What kind of a thief would I be if I always chickened out before actually taking anything valuable? I'd be a lousy thief, that's what... and _nobody _is going to call Red X a lousy thief!"_

It was then that the cement wall blocking the interior of the restroom from view by the outside completely crumbled, destroyed by a well-placed laser blast. Now Red X was completely exposed, and with another wall behind him, he was trapped as well. The robot began slowly lumbering toward him, its eyes aglow again.

"Come on, you pile of crap, come and get me!" shouted Red X, pointing his palms at the robot's face as he crouched into a fighting stance. _"This had better work, or I'm screwed..."_

Just before the robot could fire, a sticky X pasted itself over the robot's glowing eyes, and an instant later, the entire head of the machine blew up, the energy of the laser having bounced back right inside its metallic skull. Smoke and sparks began pouring from the top of the decapitated robot, still standing in the room's opening, its arms hanging limply at its sides.

Behind the robot, the old man let out a sigh, but didn't drop the remote... he knew better than X did that the robot was still very much functional, even without its head. Red X confidently walked toward the smoking machine, hoping to squeeze around it and take down the old man himself. When he got within two feet, however, he got an unpleasant surprise as the robotic soldier's arm quickly clenched around his neck, grasping tightly.

As Red X began to cough and choke, the robot spun around, turning the thief toward the main room so that the elderly security guard could get closer to him. The guard began walking toward Red X, triggering the robot's metallic hand to squeeze tighter and tighter with every step he took. X struggled furiously in the headless bot's grasp, his feet slamming repeatedly into the midsection of the robot behind him... but nothing seemed to loosen its grip, and it was quite clear that the thief was in very dire straits indeed.

"You thought you could come here and steal technology from the military, did you?" shouted the man, pointing his finger at Red X. He was now standing just a few feet from X and the robot, and the thief, looking behind his back, could see the controller still held in the man's right hand.

"Unnnnggggh... damn you..." X choked out, his feet still swinging wildly in front of him, trying to do anything he could to get the robot to loosen its grip. _"This is as bad as when Starfire had me in that full-Nelson hold... I'd better do something quick..."_

After several more tries at kicking the robot, X's legs began to stop moving, and then, his head slumped. It appeared that he had passed out from lack of oxygen. With an approving smile, the old man took another step closer, observing the limp thief held in the robot's grasp.

"Excellent, excellent..." said the old man, leaning his face in a bit closer. "Now, let's-"

X's elbow snapped backward, catching the old man right in the nose. The man stumbled back, letting out a loud cry of pain and dropping his remote to the ground as he clutched his face with both hands. The robot's grip loosened, and X's feet slammed into the bot's chest, creating enough force to loosen the bot's grip entirely and freeing Red X, who fell to the ground and landed on his back. He stood up and dashed toward the dropped remote, hoping to get it before the security guard had another chance to re-activate the robot. He was stopped in mid-dive by the man's hand around his ankle, and soon found himself pulled backward a couple of feet before being dropped on the ground.

"I don't think so!" shouted the old man, running forward and stepping over Red X to reach the remote control. He picked it up and reactivated the robot, which began to lumber toward Red X again, its neck still sparking and smoking. "Kill him! KILL HIM!"

X was now standing between the robot and the security guard, and quickly looked back and forth toward both of them, wondering whether he should flee the robot or attempt to go at the security guard again to try and get the remote control away from him. Before he could make a decision, the robot's hand shot out and grabbed Red X around the ankle, twirling him in the air several times before flinging him back toward the center of the room and another one of the displays that lay within. His back slammed hard into a plaster display sign, denting it heavily and nearly going completely through it.

When he was able to stand, he could see the decapitated robot charging past several other displays and quickly coming at him, its fists both striking at X at the same time. X ducked, allowing the robot to punch right through the sign, then rolled underneath the robot's legs and leapt up onto its back.

"This little trick doesn't work on Cyborg anymore, but I bet it'll work just fine on you," said Red X, searching for a panel on the robot's back that would allow him to access its systems. _"That's weird... there's no panel, maybe it's in a different place, or-"_

With a violent tossing motion, the robot threw X off its back and clear across the corridor into another display, this one showcasing machine guns with computer chips in them. He slammed into a rack of guns, knocking it over and sending the weapons crashing to the floor, as well as knocking the rack itself into another rack. A domino effect soon ensued, and within seconds, all six racks of guns in the display were toppled over, with Red X leaning up against them, his back throbbing with pain.

The robot turned and lunged at Red X, who rolled out of the way just in time to avoid a hard metallic tackle.

_"This thing is faster and stronger than me..." _thought Red X, cautiously but quickly backing away from the robot as it dislodged itself from the gun racks and stood up, staring down X across a long, narrow straightaway. _"All I've got going for me is my brain... that's gotta be good for something, right?"_

X looked to his left and saw an exhibit filled with cardboard cutouts of soldiers that had television screens installed into the back of them. He looked to his right and saw another display containing several gun racks. Nothing here was going to help him... and the robot had started moving toward him again. He dashed out of the corridor and back into the side of the room, looking to his left again and seeing a large green tank placed in the corner.

_"That tank has to be just a model... right?" _thought Red X, rushing toward it with the robot following closely behind him. _"Even if it is, it looks like it's still made of metal... it'll definitely give me some protection..."_

The robot swung its fist at Red X, who was still just out of its reach. The thrown punch put some distance between X and the robot, and the thief capitalized, reaching the tank and hopping inside. The lid of the tank had been propped up, and X quickly reached up and grabbed the handles, hoping to yank it down before the robot had a chance to get inside and pull him out.

"Oh, no you don't..." said the old security guard, standing in an exhibit close to the tank and watching his robot start to climb onto the platform that the tank was sitting on. _"If he closes up that tank, the robot will never be able to get in there..."_

The lid of the tank was held up by two small black metallic bracers that had been attached to its sides and screwed into the lip of the tank's opening, keeping the lid from being closed. X noticed the bracers and quickly destroyed them with small exploding Xs, which enabled him to close the lid just before the robot would've reached its hand inside. Now crammed into the compact tank, a brief feeling of claustrophobia began forming within the thief's body, and the oppressive heat inside the machine was almost immediately too much for X to bear. He pulled off his mask, setting it down in the seat beside him and leaning back into his own seat, his arms leaning back as much as they could.

"Damn... how did I get myself in _this _situation?" Sanza said to himself, looking around at the inside of the tank and seeing the various buttons and levers on the front of the control console. "...if I didn't know better, I'd say this thing was actually... a real battle tank..."

He'd been inside of a tank only one other time in his life, when his class had taken a field trip to the Jump City Military Museum a few years ago. Every student had been given the opportunity to ride around inside of a real tank with a soldier, and though the tank's weapon system had been disabled, the tank was very much real... and looked almost identical to the one Sanza was in right now.

He placed his hand on the ignition control button and discharged a burst of electrical energy through the panel. Almost immediately, the inside of the tank and all of the buttons lit up, and Sanza felt a cool rush of air from the machine's air-conditioning system. The tank had become operational.

"Now that's more like it!" Sanza shouted, his eyes darting to the turret control lever. The robot was still standing on top of the tank, attempting to dislodge its lid and get inside... and Sanza immediately decided to give the robot an unwelcome surprise. He pressed the level to the right, spinning the turret around and slamming the side of the large gun into the robot's side. The impact knocked the robot off of the tank and to the ground on its back, sending more sparks flying out of the hole in the robot's neck.

Outside of the tank, the security guard holding the remote control recoiled in horror, shaking his head as the tank's turret slowly swung around and pointed right at him.

"Position your robot at a distance far enough to be shot at by the tank, or I'll shoot you instead," came a voice projected over the tank's speakers. Inside the tank, Sanza was speaking into a microphone that had dropped down from the ceiling, and while he wasn't _really _going to blow the security guard up, he hoped that his threat would force the guard into capitulating.

"I... I don't think you're really going to-"

"Move the robot away from the tank _now_, or I'll blow your ass up. Last chance, old man."

Shaking violently, the old man began to move the robot to a distance about fifty feet away from the tank. When the bot was at a suitable distance, the turret slowly moved away from the old man and pointed directly at the headless robot, aimed right at its chest.

_"It's every kid's _dream _to fire a tank," _thought Sanza, lifting the cover over a large, flashing red button at the center of the control panel. Chuckling to himself, he slammed the palm of his hand down on the button and watched as an artillery round shot out of the turret and blasted the robot to pieces, the explosion also large enough to destroy several exhibits and a large chunk of the wall of the convention center. The man who had once been controlling the robot was thrown to the ground by the force of the explosion, the remote control dropping from his hands. Satisfied, Sanza put his mask back on and opened the lid of the tank, slowly climbing out and standing on top of the machine. He looked over at the still-trembling guard, who was crawling backwards to put distance between himself and the tank. "You have a nice day, now."

Red X leapt down from the tank and walked right toward the LaredoSoft exhibit, which had remained intact even after all the fighting and the artillery blast from the tank. He still remembered _exactly _what he wanted.

He reached the display case holding the mysterious beige object, shattering the glass with an exploding X and pulling out the object from within. Taking one last look to see if any guards or MPs were following him, he then casually strode toward the large hole he'd made in the wall and exited the building with the beige object, leaving the still-activated tank behind, its main turret still smoking.

The old security guard inside the building certainly could've taken the tank for himself and gone after Red X... but after having fought the thief with a weaponized army robot, he'd done more than enough fighting for one day.

Especially considering that a man in his position shouldn't have to fight... fighting was something that should be left to _real _security guards. The man who'd tried to take out Red X with the humanoid military robot was not a security guard at all... he was the CEO of LaredoSoft, Nicholas Jarvin Sr., who was at the military expo merely to protect his investment... volunteering to undertake security duty of his own exhibit to ensure that it remained safe.

But the thief had gone for it anyway... and he'd taken the one thing that Jarvin and his partners would need to execute their plans for the destruction of the city. The old man took out his cell phone and began to report the grim news.

"Fred, I've got something to report that you're not going to like very much..."

On the other end, Dullahan had just begun preparing to leave his office for the night and return home to his spacious mansion in the Jump City suburbs... but Jarvin's call had come just minutes before he was going to leave.

"If this concerns the seismic generator..."

"The prototype's been taken... the exhibition prototype of the seismic generator has been taken by Red X. I'm not sure he even knows what it is... he just came here and took it from the convention center. The MPs that Sedaris placed here to assist me with guarding it were insufficient to stop him, and I wasn't able to stop him either."

An 'exhibition prototype'... Red X's thievery hadn't completely ruined the group's plans. In fact, their plans weren't damaged at all... Jarvin had kept the _real _generators at LaredoSoft headquarters.

"All he managed to steal was a weak device that would only create a localized event... if he even figured out how to activate it," said Jarvin, walking over to the damaged LaredoSoft exhibit and staring down into the shattered display case. _"And if he does... then he'll become the first victim."_

O-O-O

Red X stared down at the metallic object in his hands, walking down the sidewalk of a residential neighborhood about a mile from his house. Apartments, stores, and businesses lined the streets, but they were merely window dressing to one who lived in a big city... after a while, you learn to ignore them.

_"This is why I keep stealing," _thought Red X, a feeling of satisfaction going through his body as he looked down at the object in his hands, a complex piece of technology that might be worth hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars. His first successful heist in several months had gone with nary a hitch... and again, like last time, the Titans hadn't even shown up. He _had _had to fight a military robot, but he'd defeated it by doing something that few people outside the army ever get to do. _"I fired a freaking tank! Even if I hadn't gotten this thing, that would've been satisfying enough for me."_

Imagining once more what it would have been like had Slade been at the other end of that turret, X couldn't help but crack a smile under his mask. He could only wonder how Rob was going to take the news tomorrow when he found out that the expo had been canceled on account of near-total destruction. He would probably wind up hating Red X... but then again, most people already did.

Red X didn't care... as far as he was concerned, only two people mattered... his mother and his sister. And... maybe Cleo. And almost certainly Starfire.

Just as he began to drift into another lust-filled daydream about the beautiful orange-skinned Tamaranian, his foot landed awkwardly in a large crack on the sidewalk. He fell forward, the beige object flying from his hands and landing on the ground next to X's head as he fell on his face.

_"Shit..." _thought Red X, slowly climbing to his feet and rubbing his forehead, grimacing in pain. _"If that's God's way of telling me not to lust after Starfire, then he certainly got the point across..."_

Red X didn't notice that the object now lying on the ground had begun to activate, several red and green lights on top of it now flashing brightly, on and off. God, it seemed, was about to send the thief another ominous sign... and the ground beneath Red X began to tremble.

O-O-O

This chapter's a bit shorter than the others, but I certainly hope that it was just as exciting! Also, I hope I get a lot of reviews... that would be really awesome.


	9. Big Bucks, No Whammies

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Teen Titans. If I did, this would be on TV and not here.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This doesn't take place in the same storyline as my "Forced Base" and "Fractured Heart" stories, so forget those when you're reading this. Also, about Sanza/Red X: When he's wearing the mask, he's Red X. When he's not, he's Sanza. Simple as that.

SECOND AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a sequel to "The Life and Times of Red X", which is in my profile. Read that before you read this. Also, this fic COMPLETELY IGNORES the events of the fifth season (with the exception of "Go"). For the purposes of this fic, "Things Change" NEVER HAPPENED.

O-O-O

The alert came in to Titans Tower as soon as the earthquake had begun. A bright, flashing red light filled every room of the tower, accompanied by a warning siren and an indicator of the earthquake's location on a map of the city displayed on the tower's television monitor.

"Titans, we've got trouble!" said Robin, pointing at the screen. The other Titans, who'd been out of the room at the time that the warning went off, quickly filed in front of the screen to see what was going on. "A magnitude-6.2 earthquake has originated somewhere in the city!"

Upon hearing the word 'earthquake', a brief chill went through Terra's body, and she wondered whether she herself may have inadvertently caused it. None of the Titans, however, felt a thing... highly unusual for such a large earthquake at close proximity.

"Robin, if there was a 6.2 magnitude earthquake centered somewhere in the city, wouldn't we feel it?" questioned Raven, her eyebrow raised as she looked up at the screen. "The scanner is giving a distance of 3.7 miles from the tower for the earthquake... if it was centered that close, we'd surely feel something."

"Maybe it's just a localized event," replied Cyborg, using the seismic scanner built into his own arm to check for any fault lines that may have been activated under the city. "Scanner isn't showing any fault activity, so-"

"It's not a natural earthquake," said Robin, watching as the signal on the screen blipped out just as quickly as it had appeared. "And whatever happened... the quake is over now."

The earthquake had lasted just half a minute... but the Titans knew that anything shaken by an earthquake of that magnitude could collapse in just seconds. Even if the quake was over, it wouldn't be a bad idea for them to make sure that any survivors were able to get the help they needed.

"Robin, there is another call coming in..." said Starfire, looking up at the screen and seeing a new signal coming from the convention center, less than a mile away from the earthquake's epicenter. "...this is concerning Red X... who has apparently broken into the military expo, and briefly commandeered a tank..."

Two calls in less than a minute... an earthquake in a neighborhood, and now Red X in a tank. Robin sighed with dismay, his gloved hand raising to his face. He knew that it was going to be a very busy night.

"Starfire, you and I can go to the convention center and see what's happened there," said Robin, causing Starfire's face to briefly light up. Any mission together with Robin, especially a mission with just the two of them, was always something to look forward to for Starfire, even if she knew that it was just business. "We'll take the T-Cycle... the rest of you, get down to that neighborhood where the earthquake happened and make sure everyone down there is okay. We'll meet up with you when we get done."

The four Titans whom Robin had just deployed to the neighborhood nodded... Terra with some reluctance. Any mention of earthquakes, whether they were caused by her or not, were extremely unpleasant for Terra to hear... a terrible reminder of the trouble she'd caused when she hadn't been able to control her powers. She'd leveled villages and towns while trying to help the people who lived there... and in many cases, did much more damage than whatever calamity she had been trying to stop.

Hearing the screams of people trapped inside buildings, under cars and inside cracks in the earth would only bring those terrible memories back to her once more... and while Raven and Cyborg were quickly leaving the room to head for the T-Car, Terra didn't make a move... she simply closed her eyes and dipped her head, unwilling to recall the unpleasant nightmares of her past.

She was stirred from her recollections by Beast Boy, placing his hand on her shoulder and causing her to turn around.

"Terra?" said Beast Boy, concern in his voice. "Are you...?"

"I'm fine," she replied quickly, smiling and walking past him. "Let's go..."

Even Beast Boy couldn't make Terra comfortable this time...

O-O-O

The earthquake had knocked Red X completely off of his feet, and in the chaos around him, he hadn't been able to stand until the temblor was over. When the quake finally _did_ come to an end, the thief could already hear the sound of loud cries and screams on either side of him. Buildings on both sides of the street had been severely damaged, with large cracks in their frames and their windows completely shattered. For nearly five blocks, homes, businesses, and factories had sustained at least some significant damage, with a few buildings in immediate danger of collapse.

The little device that had caused all of this damage, the prototype seismic generator, now lay on the ground just a few feet away, its lights dimmed. X's eyes drifted over to the device, and he began shaking his head.

_"That little thing... did all of _this?_" _thought Red X, once again looking to his left and to his right to see the damaged buildings nearby. He had no idea how large the earthquake had been, and had no way of knowing that his family was safe... their apartment, well out of the earthquake's range, had sustained no damage, and Maddy and Maria hadn't even felt the slightest tremor. _"The whole city could be... oh my god, mom! Maddy!"_

By now, people inside the damaged buildings were starting to make their way out... some of them carrying pets, a few children carrying precious items like toys or security blankets. Most of the people coming out were unharmed, though a few of them had sustained minor cuts and bruises, and one woman, just across the street had sustained a large gash across her forehead that would likely require stitches.

X took one more look at the device... and as it turned out, it would be a last look. Several bricks from the large flower shop immediately next to it suddenly dislodged from the building and fell to the sidewalk, slamming into the generator and crushing it under a pile of masonry. A few sparks and some smoke emerged from the pile of bricks, but that was it. The device was destroyed.

_"I'd better get back home, right now..." _thought Red X, worrying little about the fact that several people were staring at him, and much more about the fact that his family at home could be in serious danger. He turned and started to run in the direction of his own neighborhood, when suddenly, he could hear the loud cries of a little six-year-old girl, standing just a few feet away. She was accompanied by her parents and her two brothers, and was sobbing violently, with large streams of tears coming down her face.

"Mr. Fluffy didn't come out of the house!" cried the little girl, trying desperately to run back toward the entrance of her family's apartment building. Her mother quickly held her back, pulling her away from the door and holding her close to her body. "I WANT MY KITTY!"

"We can't go back in there, the building might collapse!" said the girl's mother sternly.

Red X let out a long, annoyed sigh. He'd see this in the movies plenty of times before. There would be a burning building, the little girl would get out and demand for the hero to extricate her precious pet, _usually _an adorable kitten, from the building. Well, that wasn't Red X's bag. He hated playing the hero, and he wasn't about to do it when his family at home could be in danger.

But as he heard the sobs of the little girl, his mind began thinking of just how much her cries sounded like Maddy's. Maddy never owned a kitten, but if she _did_, and it was her kitten in danger, she'd probably be acting exactly like this little girl was.

_"God dammit, god dammit, god dammit," _thought Red X, turning back toward the family and the sobbing little girl and walking up to them, his voice strained with annoyance as he spoke. "I'll get your cat out of the building. What part of the building is he in?"

The little girl saw Red X and let out a gasp, recoiling into her mother's embrace.

"Don't let him anywhere _near _Mr. Fluffy!" shouted the little girl, pointing right at Red X's face. "He's the thief on the TV! He'll just STEAL Mr. Fluffy!"

"I'm not going to steal your cat. I couldn't get any money for him if I did. There are homeless people on the street literally _giving _cats away out of boxes. Don't be ridiculous," said Red X, looking up from the girl to the girl's mother. "Now where in the building is your cat?"

"Second floor, third room on the left..." replied the girl's mother, prompting a loud 'no!' from her daughter, who was still terrified that Red X might steal her precious kitten. "Please, be careful..."

But by then, Red X had already turned and had gone into the building. The building itself was structurally sound... no fires had broken out, and the only indications that the building was damaged were a few large cracks on the outer facade and several shattered dishes and glasses littering the floor, forcing the thief to watch his step as he made his way down a long hallway and into a metallic door marked 'EXIT', leading to a flight of stairs that took him right up to the second floor.

X still couldn't believe that he was actually doing this... risking his life by going into a damaged apartment building to rescue a little girl's pet. This is the kind of thing that firemen, or maybe the Teen Titans would do...

_"Speaking of the Teen Titans," _thought Red X as he made his way to the third door on the left side of the second-floor hallway and slowly opened the door to go inside, _"where the hell are they? Aren't _they _usually the ones who show up when disaster strikes like this?"_

The family's apartment was fairly small, certainly compared to his own family's, which took up two entire floors of a building and only had to accommodate three people. This apartment was made up of a living room, a kitchen, a small bathroom, and three small bedrooms... one for the parents, one for the little girl, and one for the two boys. X did a quick sweep of the apartment and found not a living creature in sight... no kittens, no dogs, no nothing. He checked all of the rooms, including the little girl's room... nothing.

_"Did I get the wrong apartment?" _said Red X, looking around the girl's bedroom and seeing a picture of her two parents on the tiny dresser next to her desk. The parents in the picture matched the man and woman down on the sidewalk... so yes, he did indeed have the right apartment. "There's no cat in-"

"Here's your kitten, little girl," came a voice from outside that Red X immediately recognized. He threw open the window, and saw Cyborg and Raven standing next to the family. Cyborg was handing the little girl her kitten, and immediately, the girl's arms went around his metallic waist, a broad smile on her face.

"HEY!" shouted Red X, leaning his head out the window and yelling down at the two Titans. Raven and Cyborg both looked up to see Red X wildly waving his arms at them, an angry tone in his voice. "THAT WAS MY SAVE, DAMMIT!"

The little girl looked up and stuck her tongue out at Red X, blowing raspberries at him for nearly ten seconds.

"Thanks, Raven and Cyborg, for saving Mr. Fluffy from that mean thief Red X," said the little girl, smiling and stroking her kitten's tail.

"Don't mention it," Raven replied sarcastically, though the little girl's thanks wasn't what was on her mind at the moment... what _really _puzzled her is what Red X could possibly be doing in the neighborhood damaged by the earthquake. Was this _his _neighborhood? Was this _his _apartment? Or did he have something to do with the earthquake that had just happened here... so many questions were on Raven's mind, and she wanted answers, in short order. Red X leapt down from the window, landing in front of the two Titans and immediately going into a fighting stance.

"If you're wondering what caused the earthquake, I just want to say right now that it was a complete accident," said Red X, looking back and forth between Raven and Cyborg.

"We got a distress call into the tower that says _you_ stole a tank," Cyborg replied, an angry look on his face. "Now, as far as I know, tanks don't cause earthquakes, unless you stole a really _big _tank, in which case-"

"I stole a tank for a total of sixty seconds," said Red X. "It was something else I stole that caused all of this, and like I said, I didn't mean to-"

A loud rumbling noise from across the street diverted Red X's attention, and the attention of the two Titans, to another apartment building a few houses down. Everyone who had been inside was safely out, and now, they could only watch as the building completely crumbled, becoming a pile of bricks and metal that spread out into the street, nearly causing a fire rescue vehicle to run off the road as it tried to swerve around the debris. Cyborg charged over to the wreckage, while Raven turned to Red X, a grim look on her face.

"You wanna fix some of this damage that you say you _accidentally _caused?" shouted Raven, pointing at the destroyed apartment building. "Then you'd better help us rescue people, right now!"

And with that, Raven floated over to the ruined building, using a series of emotional pulse waves to check for anyone trapped in the wreckage. Red X, who was unaccustomed to seeing such emotion from the usually calm Raven, was still considering returning home to check on his family... but then realized that Raven was right, and that he _had _been the cause of all of this, even if he hadn't meant to.

It was his duty to help rescue people, as much as he hated being the hero. Not just his duty, but his penance.

O-O-O

At the convention center, a unit of police officers had arrived to assess the damage and to interview any witnesses who may have seen Red X and the havoc he'd caused in the building. Among the people being interviewed by the police was Nicholas Jarvin, the man who had crafted not only the large robot that had been used to attack Red X, but the prototype seismic generator as well. By posing as a security guard, he'd been able to see first-hand what the thief was capable of... though had been woefully unable to stop him.

After the police had concluded their interview, Jarvin started to leave... only to bump right into Robin and Starfire, the Teen Titans who'd shown up to stop any potential criminals, such as Red X, who remained at the crime scene.

"The Teen Titans... well, two of them, at least," said Jarvin Sr., feigning anger and pointing his finger in Robin's face. "Where were you when that blasted thief was blowing up half the convention center? He took out eight guards and nearly blew me to smithereens... me, an old security guard just trying to supplement his measly pension. I could've been killed!"

"And I'm sorry for that, but I still need to ask you some questions," Robin replied, "Such as-"

"The thief's gone, can't ya see?" said Jarvin Sr., pointing at the tank. "Almost drove that thing clear out of here, then the whole city would've been in trouble!"

The tank was still in the convention center, sitting right where Red X had left it. That was certainly a relief to Robin, but something about X's heist didn't quite add up... and something about this security guard didn't seem right. Robin knew he'd seen the man's face somewhere before... but exactly where he'd seen the man was something the Boy Wonder couldn't quite put his finger on. Starfire, meanwhile, wasn't looking just at the man... but at a remote control device that was sitting on one of the display cases nearby, an item that looked out of place, but one that Red X certainly should've stolen had he'd been given the opportunity.

"Sir? May I ask what exactly that device controls...?" said Starfire, walking over to the remote and picking it up in her hands, manipulating the buttons and levers for several seconds before turning back to the security guard and waiting for his response. The security guard immediately pointed to a small crater on the ground in the vicinity of the huge hole in the convention center's left wall.

"There was a big military robot, standing right there," Jarvin replied, "before that blasted thief blasted it away with that tank's blasted blaster. Just blasted it right off the face of the earth! Poof, gone, just like that."

_"A military robot?" _thought Robin, looking around the floor of the convention center and seeing the various military policemen standing among various displays, some of them being interviewed by police about their own encounters with Red X. _"I don't think any of those men would've used a military robot against Red X... they would've shot at him themselves... unless..."_

Robin stared at the security guard for several seconds, reading the expressions on the man's face as he talked with Starfire. He was hiding something... the expressions on the man's face were the same as those that Voscoti had shown after the Titans had freed him from Red X. The same deceptive tone, the wrinkles in the lining of the facial skin... and it was then that Robin came to the conclusion that this man was not just another ordinary security guard.

"Were you the one who was controlling the robot when Red X blew it up?" asked Robin, his eyes narrowing.

"Why, yes, sonny, I was," replied Jarvin, his hands on his hips. "I didn't have a weapon like those other guards, so I just had to use what was given to me... I just about managed to stop him too, until he hopped in that tank."

"And just _how _does a security guard with no actual military experience know how to use a military robot with complex controls?"

"That thief tried to use the robot too, you know," said Jarvin. "It's not really all that hard to use, that's the point of the design..."

Jarvin's voice trailed off. Immediately, he knew that he'd said just a little too much. Both Robin and Starfire could tell that the man was hiding something... but before Robin could ask any more questions, his T-Com began to ring. He took it out and flipped it on... it was Cyborg, with important news.

"Robin, you're not gonna believe who we found down here in the neighborhood hit by the quake," said Cyborg. "It's Red X..."

"Red X!" replied Robin, his eyebrows raising. "What's he doing-"

"It's kind of a long story, but something that he stole may have caused the earthquake that happened down here... he says it was an accident, and right now he's helping us rescue people, but... I think you might need to come down here and talk to him."

"I'll be there right away," said Robin, closing the T-Com and turning to Starfire. "Starfire, we-"

"I heard..." replied Starfire, walking toward Robin. The distraction had allowed Jarvin to slip away from the Titans, but at the moment, that wasn't their top priority... the earthquake and the theft at the convention center _had _been related, and the thread linking the two was Red X... who, even if he was helping the Titans, could be a serious threat. "We should go quickly."

O-O-O

Beast Boy and Terra, who had split off from Cyborg and Raven as soon as the group had reached the earthquake-stricken neighborhood, were now exploring a partially-collapsed electronics store. The left side of the roof had caved in while customers were still inside, which meant that people may have been buried. Terra, who had been growing steadily more nervous since she and Beast Boy had begun the rescue mission, was now shaking as the two passed a row of subwoofers and were now at the part of the store that had collapsed.

"I... I don't think there's anyone under there," said Terra, her voice trembling slightly. While it was true that there were no screams coming from under the rubble, that could be a sign that there could still be unconscious people buried, or that they were buried so much that their screams could not be heard from the outside. "We can check anyway, but-"

Beast Boy quickly transformed into a rat and jumped into a hole in the pile, navigating the tiny tunnels of available space to hunt for any survivors. Terra carefully approached the pile of debris, tossing chunks of drywall and metal away. She was nervous that she might pull out a piece that may have been supporting an air pocket, and so went very slowly, so as not to collapse the pile further.

_"I can't screw this up..." _thought Terra, her hands trembling as she threw small chunks of plaster from the pile. _"Everyone is counting on me... the team... all these trapped people..."_

A quick flashback entered Terra's mind, and she let out a small scream, clutching her head and trying to shake away the bad memories. Immediately, Beast Boy emerged from the pile of rubble and detransformed.

"Terra, what happened? Did you get hit with something, or-"

Terra shook her head and slowly began to walk away from the rubble pile, biting her lip and holding her hands in front of her face. By now, she was trembling violently, and struggling not to let any tears come to the surface. She had to focus... focus on helping people, not on how she might hurt them. It was what she'd done the very first few times she'd tried to save people... and every time it had ended with disastrous results.

The bad memories were quickly overwhelming the blonde girl, to the point that she almost wanted to flee the store, get on a rock, and fly away from everything... she couldn't handle this, couldn't handle seeing destruction identical to that which she had caused on her own... even if by accident, the hurt was still too fresh... not to mention the hurt she'd caused the Titans intentionally.

Just as the first tears began to flow, Beast Boy leaned into Terra, wrapping his arms around her from behind, his head leaning against her shoulder.

"Terra... I know this is hard for you... I know you might have hurt people before, but-"

"What if I hurt the people _here_, Beast Boy?" said Terra, pulling away from Beast Boy's grip and turning to face him. "What if... what if that earthquake I made yesterday, what if it... what if it woke up some fault line under the city, or-"

"I don't know jack squat about earthquakes, but... Robin said that if a fault line were activated, we'd have felt the quake at the tower... I don't know _what _caused this earthquake, but I know it couldn't have been you, Terra..."

Terra let out a sigh and bowed her head again, looking down at the ground and trying to wipe the tears that were coming down her cheeks. Beast Boy stood his ground, reluctant to approach Terra for fear that she might push him away again.

"Terra... I know all this destruction brings back some bad memories for you, but... if you can help some of these people, then maybe... I dunno, maybe you'll be able to make some good memories to replace all the bad ones of people getting hurt. Like... like how I'm already replacing the bad memories of Slade hurting you with all the good ones you've given me already in these past couple of days... I mean, I... I dunno, I'm trying to be like Raven here, she's the one who really knows people's emotions, but... I think... I think you should try to help these people, Terra."

Terra paused for several seconds... then, slowly, began to nod. She lifted her head and gave Beast Boy a quick smile.

"You're right... I need to do something to help these people, so I can forget about... forget about all those times when I wasn't quite so helpful. Thanks, Beast Boy."

Terra slowly lifted her arms, and the huge pile of rubble began to lift up on a slab of earth. Slowly, the slab shrunk, and debris from the pile began sifting off of it, falling to the ground around the slab as it slowly disintegrated and small pieces of dirt fell to the ground in its wake.

"As I'm doing this, look and see if any people are falling with the debris," said Terra, signaling to Beast Boy to stand a few feet away. "If you see someone, tell me and I'll stop shrinking this rock slab, then you can go over and place them off to the side."

Beast Boy nodded, though he couldn't quite grasp the physics of what Terra was doing. To Terra, it was quite simple... as the slab shrunk, the falling action of the debris would allow all the layers of the debris to be seen, instead of having to dig through the pile to find any people that might be trapped underneath. Anyone who _was _trapped would fall right to the top of the pile, and could then be safely moved as the debris was sorted.

It took twenty seconds for Terra and Beast Boy to check the entire pile before the slab was entirely gone. No people were found, which meant that everyone who had been in the store had managed to exit safely. Relieving news to be sure... and slowly, Terra was beginning to once again regain her confidence.

_"Part of building a new life is to try and find a way to put the past behind me..." _thought Terra as she walked over to rejoin Beast Boy at the center of the store. _"It's going to take a while, but... whether anyone else trusts me or not, I have to find a way to trust myself."_

O-O-O

After checking several damaged apartments, Raven, Cyborg, and Red X had gone to a large factory in the area that appeared to have been damaged by the quake. Two of its smokestacks had collapsed and fallen, and many of its windows had been shattered. Ambulances parked outside indicated that some of the workers had indeed been injured, and it would be up to the Titans and X to go and help those whom emergency personnel were too busy to save.

Once inside the factory, Raven had assigned herself the task of clearing away heavy machinery, and Cyborg and Red X were making their way to the north side of the factory, a large, open area with several metallic supporting beams that could prove quite dangerous should they happen to fall on anyone. Once the two reached a large brick dividing wall with only a single opening, Cyborg signaled for both of them to stop.

"I think I might've heard someone in one of those machines over there," said Cyborg, pointing to a large grouping of metallic crushers positioned by a wall to his right. The crushers were behemothic in size, nearly thirty feet tall and twenty-feet wide, designed to compact worn-out steel parts into usable scrap material, and were serviced by workers in the factory who would have to climb into the machine itself and fix a part that happened to be broken. "Could you go behind that wall and see if anyone's hurt in there while I go check the crushers?"

X gave Cyborg a slight nod, and dashed through the opening in the brick wall. Almost immediately, he saw a large, burly man in a hard hat, trapped under an enormous metal girder that had fallen from the ceiling. Occasionally, the man would give a weak, pained groan.

"Hey... hey... could you... could you come over and get this thing off me?" the man said, his voice weak and pained. It was clear from his tone that he was in agony, and from the size of the girder currently pinning him to the ground, it was clear that the man probably didn't have much time left. The thief could feel a pang of guilt as he ran over to the trapped man, knowing that the man's predicament was partially his fault.

X took a few seconds to inspect the girder. It was fifteen feet long, and probably eighteen inches high... most likely weighing more than a ton. It was a miracle that the man had survived the impact of the object on his back... and even more of a miracle that the man was moving his legs, albeit very weakly. Someone up there _definitely _liked this factory worker...

_"I'm not gonna be able to lift it, but..." _Red X waved his left hand quickly, causing a large metallic X to burst out from his palm and slam into the girder. The speed and force of the X knocked the girder backwards by several feet, forcing it off of the trapped man. "You probably can't get up on your own... don't worry, I'm going to help you."

As Red X walked over to the man, the man's eyes turned wide with fear. Red X stopped, wondering if perhaps his reputation as a thief extended to the man he'd just saved, and if the man actually thought that he was in danger. But in reality, it was Red X who was in danger. The girder just above his head had been dislodged from the ceiling and was now plummeting toward him.

"LOOK OUT!" shouted the man, prompting Red X to look up and roll out of the way, just moments before the girder came down on the concrete floor with a loud crash, cracking the ground in several places. When X looked behind him, he was amazed to see a pale-skinned girl with light pink hair, smiling at him from behind the fallen girder.

"Looks like your luck hasn't quite run out yet," replied the girl, in a sinister tone. "But it's just about to!"

The girl fired a blast of pink energy at the fallen girder, which skidded along the ground before slamming into Red X's legs, knocking him clear off his feet and to the floor.

"Who... the hell... are you?" stammered Red X, rubbing his now-bruised back as he stood up and saw the pink-haired girl now floating in the air in front of him. By now, the man whom Red X had just saved had decided that he wanted no part of _this _encounter, and was crawling out of the large room, finding the first emergency exit that he could and making his escape.

"I'm Jinx," replied the girl, mischievously placing her finger to her lips. "You might remember me from earlier... you remember that little trip you took just before the earthquake, right?"

Red X's eyes widened under the mask. His foot had fallen into a crack in the sidewalk... which Jinx, hiding in a nearby alley and completely unseen by the thief, had created. She'd had no idea that X was carrying a seismic generator that would cause a large earthquake to take out nearly 25,000 square feet of the city... but it's the kind of thing that one would expect to happen, considering Jinx's penchant for bad luck.

X's hands clenched into fists, but before he could attack, Jinx created another crack in the ground, right under the thief's feet. He fell again, and was immediately bombarded by more pink energy waves, which he quickly blocked by creating a large, metallic X to shield his body. The pink waves slammed into the shield and were deflected up to the ceiling, causing two more girders to fall and slam into the ground. One of them was right above Jinx's head, and she, like Red X, had to slide out of the way at the last minute.

"Now who's the one not having the best luck?" taunted Red X, standing up and firing an exploding X at Jinx's stomach. The X slammed into her, knocking her back and causing her to let out a scream. She quickly recovered, but instead of attacking Red X again, she turned to flee the room... and bumped right into Cyborg.

"Funny seeing you here," said Cyborg, leveling the business end of his blaster at Jinx's head. "And bad luck in an earthquake zone is _definitely _not what anyone needs right now."

Realizing that she was outnumbered and outmatched, Jinx quickly raised her hands to the ceiling and shot out a large blast of pink energy. The blast triggered the fall of the rest of the girders, and the subsequent collapse of the entire ceiling, an event that caught both Red X and Cyborg completely by surprised. As a huge cloud of dust and debris filled the room, Jinx took advantage of the chaos and escaped quickly, while the roof came collapsing down on the two unfortunate souls left inside.

_"That ain't good!" _thought Cyborg, immediately crouching to protect himself from the debris.

"Azarath, metreon, zinthos!"

A wave of black energy swept across the room, clearing out all of the debris and leaving Red X and Cyborg both crouching down in what was now an open area, the light from the stars illuminating freely the large, roofless space. The two looked up to see Raven entering through the still-intact brick wall, her body glowing brightly with an aura that matched the color of the energy she'd used to save them both.

"What happened in here?" asked Raven as the two stood up and dusted themselves off.

"Nothing, the roof just collapsed on its own," said Red X, in a sarcastic tone matched only by Raven in her worst moments. "You most certainly _didn't _see the both of us almost getting killed by a pink-haired priss with skin as pale as yours."

"Jinx," said Raven simply, looking over at Cyborg, who confirmed with a nod.

"She took out the whole roof without even breaking a sweat," said Cyborg, looking down and checking the scanners on his arm. "There are a whole bunch of unstable buildings in this neighborhood because of the quake... the destruction that that girl could cause might be magnified a hundredfold!

"Which means that we've got to stop her, right?" asked Red X, rolling his eyes and putting his hands briefly behind his head. _"Great... first I have to go after kitty, and now some crazy pink-haired bitch is running around having the best day of her life... and my mom and sis could still be in trouble! This day's certainly turned out wonderful..."_

The sound of a motorcycle could clearly be heard nearby, and soon, the motorcycle could be seen by all three of the people in the destroyed room, moving down a nearby street and turning down an alley to reach the area where Raven, Cyborg, and Red X were standing. It was the T-Cycle, and it easily made its way out of the alley and onto the concrete foundation of the building, rapidly traversing the room and stopping just beside Cyborg and Red X. Robin quickly hopped off, not bothering to set the kickstand as he confronted Red X, an angry look on his face. The force with which Robin had dismounted the bike nearly knocked it over on top of Starfire, who hopped off of it and watched as it hit the ground on its side. She made a quick cry of surprise before turning in the direction of Robin and X, whom she could tell were about to have a very heated discussion.

"What the hell were you doing at the convention center?" shouted Robin, pointing his finger in X's face, "and exactly what did you steal that caused all this?"

"You know what I was doing," replied Red X with a chuckle, "and as for me causing all this... I think you've got your facts a bit mixed up. I tripped, and when I got up, there was an earthquake. The real person you oughta be looking for just got away."

"X is sorta right," said Cyborg, pointing up to where the roof once stood. "Jinx is back... she came here and attacked us before knocking down the roof and getting away."

Robin, like Cyborg, knew the ramifications of Jinx being on the loose in an area filled with unstable buildings and shaky ground. She was definitely capable of making an already bad situation into a horrific disaster... and unlike Red X, Jinx showed absolutely no qualms about hurting anyone.

"I'll help you guys go after her... she _did _try to take me out, I'm not letting her get away with that," said Red X, looking over at Starfire. "And besides... I can't enjoy myself knowing that this cutie might be in danger."

Starfire narrowed her eyes at Red X before turning to Robin and pointing up at the sky.

"I will scan for Jinx from the air..."

"So can I," said Raven, already floating a few inches above the ground.

"That leaves me, Cyborg, and X to search the ground, and look for any more people who might need our help," said Robin. "Also, we should probably try to find Terra and Beast Boy... wherever they are..."

O-O-O

The two of them were a short distance away, walking down the sidewalk and looking for any other buildings that may have collapsed. By now, emergency services had covered most of the area, and the vast majority of the injured had been found and were being tended to.

"We should probably try to find the others," said Terra, turning to Beast Boy. "Now that all these ambulances have arrived, we don't really need to cover as much ground as before."

Beast Boy nodded, just before seeing Starfire and Raven flying in from his left. They passed overhead, stopping above Beast Boy and Terra and waving down at them.

"Starfire! Raven!" Beast Boy called out, looking up at them and waving his hand. "We were just talking about finding you...

"Beast Boy, you and Terra should be on the lookout for Jinx," said Raven, causing Beast Boy to give a slight cry of surprise. "She's going around making trouble, and in this kind of environment, her powers are really dangerous."

"Raven is correct... Jinx does not have any idea of all the people she is harming with her actions," added Starfire. "She must be brought to justice before she does any more damage..."

"Beast Boy, maybe we should go with them," said Terra, pointing up at Raven and Starfire. "Both of us can fly, and with eight eyes in the air, finding Jinx might be a bit easier..."

"Right now, Robin, Cyborg, and X are searching an area of the city in that direction," said Raven, pointing to the area from which she and Starfire had just come. "You and Terra should probably keep searching around here... we'll meet up at the Value-Star Supermarket about a block north of here. If you find Jinx, call to the others."

Beast Boy nodded, and turned to Terra, who didn't seem to like Raven's idea very much, but decided to go along with it anyway. She reluctantly nodded, and Starfire and Raven took off, continuing to fly in the same direction.

"Raven gave me a great idea," said Beast Boy with a smile. "A supermarket's an awfully big place, I bet Jinx is in there... the only problem is, I don't know which way is-"

"North? This way," said Terra, pointing straight ahead. "The sun set to our left a couple hours ago, which means that straight ahead is north. When you've been around as much as I have, you kinda have to figure out some unusual ways to know where you're going."

"Ohhhhhhh... maybe you should lead the way then," said Beast Boy, as Terra quickly ran off down the sidewalk. Beast Boy followed, and within a few minutes, the two were in front of the supermarket, its wide windows and glass doors shattered by the force of the quake. Inside, several shelves had been knocked down, and there were literally tens of thousands of items scattered about the floor... the place was a total mess, though thankfully, there wasn't anyone inside... at least from what the two heroes could tell. "No sign of Jinx from outside..."

"Beast Boy... I'm gonna go around back to see if she might be behind the supermarket," said Terra, indicating an alley to the right that led behind the large building. "You should go inside and-"

"Already on it," said Beast Boy, noticing a large, still-intact produce display near the entrance of the store. "Meet you inside!"

Terra nodded, and with a smile, began walking toward the alley, briefly giggling at the thought of Beast Boy gorging himself in the produce aisle. Sure, there were much more important issues at hand than feeding one's face, but it was definitely nice to get an occasional respite from the trials and tribulations of the superhero life. For Terra, the chance to take a brief, mental break from what had been up to this point a sad, and at times a horrifying existence, was certainly something she desired as well... but for now, she had to find Jinx.

She was just about to turn into the alley when a pale hand clasped over her mouth, pulling her backward. Terra let out a loud, muffled scream, which only caused the hand over her mouth to press even tighter. Then, she heard a female voice.

"Guess this isn't your lucky day, huh?" came Jinx's voice, accompanied by another hand that grasped around Terra's arms, pinning them to her sides. "I don't know who you are, but I do know you'll make one valuable hostage..."

Terra was _not _going to let that happen, and quickly wrenched her right arm forward, out of Jinx's grasp. She then launched her elbow back, catching Jinx in the chest and causing the ground beneath the pink-haired girl to swell. Jinx was knocked away from Terra and pushed back, finally coming to a stop about twenty yards away at the end of the alley, flat on her back. Terra turned and faced Jinx, her fists clenched and her knees bent.

"You're not getting the jump on me that easily," said Terra, her eyes narrowing and glowing bright yellow. Jinx stood up and raised her arms, firing pink energy blasts at the buildings to the left and right of Terra. Before Terra could attack, she found herself buried in bricks that Jinx had loosened from both buildings. Jinx smiled slyly, just before Terra burst up from the bricks on a large swell of ground that she had formed underneath her. The bricks then lifted from the ground and came at Jinx like missiles, propelled by Terra's powers. Jinx swerved and ducked repeatedly to avoid the bricks, and was quickly forced to retreat when Terra leapt up off of her groundswell.

The ground came forward like a wave at Jinx, hitting her and throwing her backwards until she slammed into the front of a dumpster. Terra ran toward her, lifting up small rocks from the ground and flinging them at Jinx as she had done with the bricks. Jinx barely rolled out of the way, and the rocks hit the dumpster instead, denting and rupturing it in several places.

"No wonder the Titans didn't trust you," said Jinx, causing Terra to stop in her tracks just as she reached the vacant lot behind the supermarket, where Jinx was currently standing. "I heard all about it in the news, how you nearly destroyed the city with those powers of yours... you were Slade's apprentice, right?"

Terra clenched her teeth and ran at Jinx, who casually smiled and pointed at the dumpster. The dumpster fell over, dispensing all of its contents on top of Terra, burying her in muck and refuse.

_"Don't listen to her, Terra..." _thought the blonde girl, slowly picking herself up from the heap of trash, brushing food and dirt from her hair. _"This is exactly what you did to try and make Raven angry... don't let her manipulate your mind, you have to FOCUS!"_

"I lied earlier, when I said I didn't know who you were. I know _exactly _who you are, I've heard a lot about you."

"Then you'd know that I can do THIS!" shouted Terra, causing the ground beneath Jinx's feet to start to liquefy and pull her under. Jinx let out a loud scream, quickly firing another blast of pink energy at the ground beneath Terra. A large explosion of dirt and rock engulfed the blonde geomancer, allowing Jinx to pull herself up out of the ground and strike with a kick right at Terra's face. The kick came out of nowhere, impacting Terra's nose and sending her right to the ground, her back landing on a large pile of trash bags.

Terra retaliated quickly, lifting up several mounds of dirt from the ground and shaping them into hardened spikes of rock, which she then hurtled toward Jinx, aiming at her arms and legs. Jinx blasted the spikes with pink energy, destroying two and turning the other two into swords, which she then grabbed and swung furiously at Terra. Terra did a leaping backward somersault to avoid Jinx's slashes, clearing the pile of trash and positioning herself to strike back at her opponent. She uplifted the ground under the trash, causing it to fly forward and bury Jinx, just as she herself had been buried a minute before.

With a cry of rage, Jinx flew up out of the trash pile and blasted the ground near Terra several times, causing several more explosions that Terra was easily able to dodge. She continued leaping and walking backwards until she found herself backed up against a chain-link fence, and Jinx now knew she had the perfect opportunity.

"Say goodnight, dweeb," said Jinx, blasting the fence and giving it a powerful electric charge. Terra gasped and crumpled to her knees in front of the fence, grimacing in pain. "You know that it's _never _good luck to play around electric fences."

Terra looked up at Jinx, gritting her teeth as the girl got closer and closer. A bead of sweat trickled down Terra's face. She stared Jinx right in the eyes, determined to show that she wouldn't be intimidated.

_"Get a little closer, Jinx..." _thought Terra, the ground beneath her beginning to crack. _"See what happens."_

When Jinx was within a distance of four feet, the slab of ground underneath Terra burst upward, lifting Terra into the air and knocking Jinx off-balance, sending her to the ground on her back. As soon as Terra was about twenty feet in the air, she leapt backward off of the rock and sent it crashing downward, right on top of Jinx. It was too fast for Jinx to stop it, and she took a direct hit, the rock hitting her and smashing into pieces, burying her in dirt and pebbles. Terra landed in a grassy area about twenty-feet away, a rough landing, but a safe one. She looked over and saw Jinx in the vacant lot, still buried underneath the remnants of the huge slab of ground that had slammed into her.

Slowly, Jinx crawled out of the rubble, dusty and bruised but still _very _much able to fight. She looked at Terra and stood up, brushing herself off and clenching her teeth.

"That does it... _no _more Miss Nice Jinx... this fight is just BEGINNING!" shouted Jinx, just as Terra lifted up on a much smaller slab of rock.

"You're right, it is," said Terra, levitating to Jinx's level before rushing forward at her with amazing speed. She reared back her fist and prepared to strike Jinx in the face, but as she rushed past, Jinx ducked under her punch, and blasted the rock beneath Terra with a burst of energy. The rock immediately crumbled, and Terra fell flat on her face. Not wasting any time, Jinx rushed toward her fallen foe, stomping down at Terra's head. Terra grabbed Jinx by the ankle and attempted to tug her to the ground, only to have Jinx use her other foot to kick Terra in the side, sending her rolling several feet.

Terra stood up and through another punch, which this time was successful, striking Jinx in the side of the face. Jinx stumbled back, then rushed forward and attempted to headbutt Terra in the chest. Terra dodged to the side, turning around and striking Jinx in the back with her elbow.

"Uggggggggggnnnnggggh..." groaned Terra, quickly grabbing her elbow and falling to one knee as burning pain began to shoot through her arm. "My nerve... aaaaaggggh..."

"Dont'cha hate when that happens?" Jinx taunted, turning around while rubbing her back with her left forearm. "I bet you'll hate this even more!"

Jinx launched a quick, cruel kick that struck Terra right in the same place on her elbow, causing her already frayed nerve to issue forth another sharp wave of excruciating pain. Terra let out a loud scream and collapsed to the ground, rolling on her side as her entire right arm was rendered temporarily unusable.

"And that's _really _unlucky," said Jinx, her hands on her hips as she watched Terra roll about on the ground for several seconds, her face twisted in agony. "Now, how am I gonna finish you?"

"You're NOT!" shouted Terra, thrusting her other arm forward and causing a slab of ground underneath Jinx to tilt backward, knocking her off her feet and causing her to land hard on the ground... on both elbows.

The sudden jolt of pain triggered a scream from Jinx, who, like Terra, began rolling on the ground as the nerves in her arms triggered a wave of pain that made Jinx briefly feel as if she would vomit. By now, the pain in Terra's arm had subsided, and she slowly began making her way to her feet, while Jinx lay on the ground with her arms clenched tightly to her body, gritting her teeth to try and make the pain go away.

"Hey!" shouted Beast Boy, emerging from the back of the supermarket and standing in the doorway of one of the market's emergency exits, not expecting to see Terra standing victoriously over a grimacing, groaning Jinx. "Whoa... tell me I didn't just miss the whole fight..."

"You didn't..." said Jinx quietly, standing up and blasting the door next to Beast Boy with a blast of pink energy. Suddenly, the large, metallic door swung back, right into Beast Boy's face. He was sent flying back into the room from which he'd came, most likely with a bloody nose from the force of the door having slammed into it. Jinx turned around, only to see Terra's fist flying straight at her forehead. The punch nearly knocked Jinx senseless, but she managed to maintain her footing long enough to bring up her knee into Terra's gut, knocking the wind out of her long enough for Jinx to dash back into the store, using a different door than the one she'd blasted Beast Boy back into. As Terra stood in the vacant lot, gasping and trying to catch her breath, a feeling of dread came over her as she realized that she just allowed Jinx to escape.

"Dammit!" cried Terra, running to the door Jinx had used and trying to rip it open. The door was now locked... obviously a result of Jinx's manipulation. Just before she resorted to ripping away the walls around the door, Beast Boy poked his head out of the supermarket's other back entrance, his nose bandaged up as he gestured for Terra to follow him.

"Jinx went back in the store, we gotta go catch her! Hurry!"

Terra nodded and ran over to Beast Boy, hoping that the two could catch up to Jinx before it was too late.

O-O-O

Meanwhile, Jinx was casually strolling up to the destroyed front of the supermarket, a smile on her face, even though her body was covered in dirt and muck from the fact that she'd been hit not only by a huge slab of rock, but by a bunch of trash as well.

"That was almost as fun as destroying a building," said Jinx, her right hand beginning to glow with pink energy. "That reminds me..."

Jinx turned around and pointed her palm up at the ceiling of the supermarket... no sense in letting the opportunity to destroy it go to waste. Just before she could fire, a green Starbolt slammed into the back of her hand. Jinx let out a yelp and turned around... to see Starfire and Raven staring her down, both of them with serious looks on their faces.

"Your reign of destruction is over, and now we are going to take you to jail," said Starfire, her green eyes aglow. Jinx growled and took a step back, into one of the aisles that had been only slightly littered by the quake.

"You can't take what you can't catch," said Jinx, "and let's see you try to catch me after I do THIS!"

Jinx extended her arms and fired a wave of pink energy into both racks of items in the aisle, causing every single canister, bottle, and jar to explode violently, their contents rushing forward at Starfire and Raven. Before either could get out of the way, they both found themselves completely covered in an amalgam of baby powder, baby food, applesauce, marshmellow cream, and practically any other disgusting substance that a person could find in a supermarket.

Starfire simply stood in shock for several seconds, blinking her eyes, while Raven cleaned herself up with one swipe of her powers, causing the goo and muck covering her body to simply fall to the floor.

"Star, let's go," said Raven, flying forward into the aisle, which, because of the exploding baby powder, had become an environment of choking, blinding fog. Jinx had already made her escape, navigating through the fog into another area of the market, with the memory of Raven and Starfire covered in the contents of all those jars and cans still fresh in her mind.

"What idiots," Jinx said to herself, wiping her eyes and giggling as she made her way down an aisle of sports drinks and juices. "By the time they've cleaned up, I'll be long g-"

Jinx's next words were a series of shouts, muffled by a red X that had been pasted over her mouth. The thief had been leaning against a display of Atlas-Ade and had been watching Jinx for several seconds before deciding to make his move.

"Now when you can learn to play nice and not laugh at the misfortunes of others, I'll take that X off your mouth," said Red X, who then let out a chuckle. "By the way, what I just did... that _was _pretty funny..."

Jinx frantically reached up and tried to remove the X from her mouth, but found it far too sticky to even begin to peel the sides. Failing in that, she ran at Red X, angrily punching and kicking at him with little success. He easily dodged her blows, before leaping back and firing another X at her, this one forming into cables that would hopefully bind Jinx's arms. She reached out and blasted the X with pink energy, causing it to backfire and bind Red X's arms instead.

"Shit," Red X grumbled, suddenly feeling a mosquito bite into his shoulder. "Double shit."

He began struggling, and it was a few seconds before he finally managed to extend one of his wrist blades. _"Really should've seen that coming..."_

Jinx again began to laugh, despite the fact that it was muffled by her X-shaped gag. Suddenly, she could feel someone tapping on her shoulder, and instinctively turned around.

For the second time that day, she was staring straight into the barrel of Cyborg's energy cannon.

"I'd tell you to say goodbye, but... ya know, the X and all..."

A blue energy blast slammed into Jinx's chest, sending her flying all the way back down the aisle.

"BOOYAH!" shouted Cyborg, turning to Red X, who had just freed himself from his own X-bands.

"Nice one," said Red X, giving Cyborg a thumbs-up and looking down the aisle to see if Jinx had gotten up yet. Unfortunately, she had gotten up... and had again disappeared, having made her way into yet another aisle of the supermarket.

_"I swear, those Titans follow me everywhere..." _thought Jinx, running back into the store's produce area, no longer caring that she still had an X pasted over her face. _"I'm not gonna embarrass myself like the rest of the Hive already did... I'll come back and take care of those Titans some other time!"_

Out of nowhere, a kick struck Jinx right in the side of her face, knocking her backward into a large stack of oranges. She landed on her back, several of the oranges having burst underneath her, staining her cloak with tangy citrus juice.

"It's over, Jinx," said Robin, standing over the fallen, pink-haired villainess.

"Mmmph hmmrrrrrrrph, mmmmmgh mmmph hmmm mmmmmmm!" shouted Jinx, before letting out a loud growl of frustration, narrowing her eyes, and with all of her strength, ripping the X off of her mouth. "I SAID, it's not over until I SAY it is!"

Jinx raised her hands and blasted the display of celery behind Robin... causing all of the sprinklers mounted above to spray Robin with water. His cape and the back of his head now doused, Robin maintained the same calm, serious, and angry look on his face, while Jinx, realizing she'd been defeated, now bore an extremely nervous grin. With one punch, Robin KOed Jinx, sprawling her out next to the large display of oranges.

He was soon approached by Raven and the still-messy Starfire, followed just a few seconds later by Cyborg and Red X.

"Wow," said Red X, reaching up to wipe some of the baby food from Starfire's face. "Even when you're messy, you're _still _cute."

Starfire narrowed her eyes... before smiling and starting to giggle.

_"Sometimes, Sanza, you are just... how do you say... too much," _she thought, using her hands to wring some of the food from her hair, still giggling slightly.

A few more seconds later, and Beast Boy and Terra arrived, rushing in from the back of the store. Upon seeing that Jinx had been knocked out, Beast Boy let out a groan.

"_Now _did I miss the whole fight?" groaned Beast Boy, his shoulders slumping. Terra smiled and began to nod.

"Yeah, Beast Boy, I think you did..." Terra replied, looking around at the other Titans, who, like her, were smiling. _"But as for me... I'm glad all of this is finally over."_

O-O-O

A few minutes later, a police squad had arrived to take Jinx off to jail. The Titans, and Red X, looked on from the sidewalk in front of the destroyed supermarket.

"I'm surprised you didn't ask for those police to take me away too," Red X said, casually leaning against one of the windowpanes. "Especially after how mad you were at me just a while ago."

"If you hadn't helped us out today, I probably would have," replied Robin, still shooting a serious look at Red X. "And don't think you're off the hook yet... something was up at the convention center, and I want to know exactly what that something is."

The device Red X had stolen had caused an earthquake... military or not, the thief knew that it certainly wasn't something that one would normally find at a technology expo. There was something afoot... and X couldn't help but think that the security guard who had tried to take him out at the convention center was someone he'd seen before... in a much different capacity.

He needed to do something to jog his memory... maybe take a trip... another trip to Titans Tower.

"Tell you what. I'll come back with you guys and give you _my _theory about what's going on. If you don't wanna believe me, I don't blame you, but I'd definitely like to know why something I stole from a stupid technology expo nearly destroyed the entire city."

"Actually... you did _not _destroy the entire city... there was a fairly small area of destruction, about five blocks out from the epicenter of the quake," said Starfire. "At the tower, we did not feel a thing."

Starfire's words were certainly news to Red X, who had been _sure _that the earthquake he'd felt was big enough to affect the entire city. That's how earthquakes worked, right? At least it's what he had been taught in science class... if the quake only affected a five-block radius from where he'd fallen, then his family, several blocks outside the radius... his family was safe.

Without saying a word, Red X ran over to Starfire and gave her a tight hug. Her eyes widened, but she didn't push Red X away... only gave him a quizzical look when he finally _did _let her go.

"I... wouldn't have done that," said Raven, observing that Starfire was still covered in everything that had been sprayed onto her when Jinx had triggered the huge food explosion.

"...we'd better just get to the tower," said Red X, walking away from Starfire and toward the T-Car, which Cyborg had parked in the supermarket's lot. The Titans followed him, and Terra shot him one last quizzical look as the group piled into the T-Car, with Robin and Starfire hopping onto Robin's T-Cycle.

_"Okay, first he's a badass, and now he's hugging people?" _thought Terra, scooting into the back seat of the T-Car between Beast Boy and Red X. _"I have _got _to know who's behind that mask..."_

O-O-O

The meeting that Robin had scheduled with Red X and the other Titans would have to wait while Starfire and Terra both took showers. While Terra was taking her own shower, Red X was feeling the effects of the cabbage dinner he'd had just a few hours earlier, and was forced to wait outside while Terra cleaned the smell of the trash that Jinx had dumped onto her off of her body.

He leaned against the wall just outside the bathroom, and as Terra came out, wrapped in a towel, X immediately turned and tried to get in. The two ended up bumping into one another, and Terra nearly dropped her towel.

"Sorry about that... should've let you go by first," said Red X, briefly observing Terra's figure before looking back up at her face.

"I saw that," replied Terra, raising her hand to slap Red X, before her calmer side prevailed and she slowly lowered her arm to her side. "What... what are you-"

"Waiting for you to get done so I could go in there," said Red X, who, while having had many a bathroom confrontation with Maddy over the years, had not quite learned the proper rules of bathroom etiquette.

"Oh," replied Terra, slowly stepping out of the way so that Red X could go inside. He started to go into the bathroom, but stopped in the doorway, turning back toward Terra and looking into her eyes. "...eh?"

"I promised I'd show you who I was, didn't I?" said Red X, lifting up his hand to remove his mask. _"All the other Titans know who I am... I figure I might as well let her know, before somebody, probably Beast Boy, goes and tells her anyway..."_

"I... I assumed you didn't want me to-"

"I trust you," interrupted Red X, slowly lifting the mask from his head and revealing his true face... as well as his true name. "I'm Sanza... Sanza Salazar. You can call me that when I'm not wearing the mask."

Terra's reaction was one of surprise... Sanza looked a bit younger than she had expected him to be, though at the same time, she realized that he was probably a bit older than Beast Boy. His face and hair made him almost resemble a darker version of Robin... though Robin's hair was significantly spikier.

_"He's cute..." _thought Terra, briefly reaching up to brush her hand across Sanza's cheek, though again, she pulled it back before actually achieving contact with his face. _"Maybe even cuter than..."_

"I'll tell you the story of how I got the suit some other time... well, actually, I guess you know how I got it. You must know. I took it from the Titans while me and my sis were visiting their tower. That's why Robin's so pissed off at me all the time, this was _his _suit."

"Well... I don't blame him, I'd be mad too if somebody came into my home and took my stuff..." but instead of being angry or judgmental, Terra's tone was casual... and she was smiling. "May I ask why you stole the suit?"

"If I can ask why you betrayed the Titans," said Sanza, quickly causing Terra to recoil. It was not a question Terra had expected, and something far too personal for her to talk about, especially with someone she'd just met. The smile disappeared from her face, and her eyes widened. "Terra, Slade tried to get me to be his apprentice too. He saw that I had this suit and came after my family, but even after he'd kidnapped them, I _still _told Slade to fuck off. What's _your _excuse?"

Terra didn't know whether to be angry at Sanza... she wanted to slap him again, while at the same time, she wanted to burst into tears. He'd asked her a confrontational, personal, hurtful question... right after he'd introduced himself to her. The tone of the conversation had changed so quick, and it felt like Terra's head was about to start spinning.

"I... I don't have an excuse," said Terra, hanging her head briefly before looking back up at Sanza. "I don't have a family, and... and at the time that I attacked the Titans, I... I didn't even think that I had any friends. I had nothing to lose by going along with him, and... and I..."

"You were scared of him," replied Sanza, his tone easing up slightly, almost apologetic as he spoke his next words. "I know what that's like, Terra... I was scared of him too."

And with that, Sanza turned and went into the bathroom, closing the door and leaving Terra standing out in the hallway, the cool air blowing across her wet, towel-clad body. She could only wonder what Sanza had meant when he'd said those words. Was he attacking her? Was he angry with her? Or was he just trying to sympathize her? One thing was clear... the more that Sanza talked to Terra, the more that she wanted to find out about who he truly was.

O-O-O

Inside the main room of Titans Tower, where all the Titans had gathered, Robin knew that he was about to find out what Jump City's real latest threat was. It wasn't from Jinx, and it wasn't from Red X... as much as he wanted to believe it was. He was sure that that security guard back at the convention center had something to do with it...

He just didn't know how right he was. It was in the bathroom that Red X had had his epiphany... he'd finally figured out where he'd seen that security guard before. It was the first thing out of his mouth when he walked into the main room of Titans Tower.

"There was a man at that convention center I stole from... a security guard who tried to kill me with a military robot."

"This we know," said Raven, pointing at Robin. "Robin told us. He and Starfire talked to the guy-"

"That guy was one of the people that I heard talking... the people I heard talking about using the Crisis Crystal to revive Terra."

The mention of Terra's name caused her to gasp, her hand immediately going to her mouth.

"The guy that brought Terra back... that guy that mutated into a monster, was he in the room too?" asked Beast Boy. Red X nodded.

"He _and _the man that blew up on the ship... and three others," said Red X. "They were going to use Terra to destroy the city... so that they could then rebuild it and collect all the money off of the building contracts."

It didn't take any of the Titans long to put two and two together... and it was the brilliant detective Robin, who, as he always did, came to the realization of what exactly was going on.

"Those six men must still be trying to destroy the city... and that device you stole to create an earthquake must have been part of their plan!"

The men were going to use Terra first... this did _not _sit well with the blonde geomancer, and she stood up from the couch where she was sitting, her knees trembling.

"I... I need to... need to get some water, or something," said Terra, looking around at the others briefly before slowly walking out of the room. Beast Boy attempted to stop her by taking her shoulder, but she pulled away from him and quickly exited the room, walking down a hallway and disappearing from sight.

"Terra, wait!" shouted Beast Boy, who also rose from the couch and ran after Terra, hoping that it wouldn't be too late to console her. He _knew _that she wouldn't take the news about her being revived just to be used as a weapon very well, which is exactly why he hadn't told her... but unfortunately, Red X had just let the cat out of the bag.

"I think I said something wrong," said Red X. Almost immediately, Robin shook his head.

"No... no, you said _exactly _the right thing... and now we know exactly what we need to do, team."

"Just like when we went after the Crystal... but this time, we can't be too late!" said Cyborg, standing up and pumping his fists. Robin turned to Red X, walking over and staring him right in the eyes.

"X... as much animosity as we've had recently, you... you've really been a big help going after these guys, and I'd really like it if you could help us bring the rest of them down," said Robin, once again offering his hand for Red X to shake. Red X looked down at Robin's hand and, without even a second to think, shook his head. "What? Why?"

"If I told you once, I told you a thousand times, Robin. I don't like playing the hero. Besides, there are _six _Titans now. You've DEFINITELY got this one covered."

Red X knew well the danger that these men posed to the city... and, consequently, his family. He knew that the Titans had been mostly unsuccessful last time, and had he not gone to Terra's statue when he did, she'd probably still be controlled by Dr. Ruell at this very moment. But Red X wanted nothing more than to be alone... he _was _going to go after these guys, but he was going to do it his own way. He took orders from _no one_, not Slade, or Robin, or anyone else.

"What about your family!" shouted Robin, as Red X casually walked toward the tower's entrance. "These guys are threatening the entire city!"

"A while ago, you didn't want anything to do with me," said Red X, triggering the front door of the Tower to slide open. "Now you're practically begging me to help you. That's pathetic, kid, and you know it."

Before Robin could say another word, he felt Cyborg's cold hand on his shoulder. He turned around and saw his friend slowly shaking his head.

"Let him go, man," said Cyborg, right as Red X walked out the door. "He's right... we've got this covered. There's six of us and four of them. We wouldn't be the Teen Titans if we couldn't stop a plan to destroy the city."

Starfire too was sad to see Red X leave... the brief time when they'd worked together to take down Slade had been, if not the most _peaceful_ time in Starfire's life, then certainly one of the happiest. No matter what, she always maintained the belief that deep down inside Red X was a good, kind person... and she would never give up that belief, no matter what.

No one who fought that hard to protect their family could be evil... and she knew that even if Red X wasn't working with the Titans to stop the threat against Jump City, that he would still be fighting to keep the city, and his family safe.

O-O-O

There were four more people who knew Red X would be fighting to keep the city safe... and they wanted him _stopped_. As soon as possible.

"Very soon, the three seismic generators will be in place, and the city will be torn in half," said Nicholas Jarvin, as he looked down at three objects similar to the one that Red X had stolen, now laid out on the long, wooden table in the Mycoso Building's top floor meeting room.

"We've already got contractors lined up to repair the part of town damaged by tonight's quake," said Frederick Dullahan, a wide smile on his face. "Amazing how things work out sometimes..."

"Red X did us a favor... but he still pisses me off!" shouted Lonnie Jarvin, pounding his fist on the table. "What if he'd stolen the _real _generators, all that planning right down the toilet! He's gonna try to stop us... I know he is, that little _punk_..."

It was then that Sedaris, normally silent and unmoving during the meeting sessions, began walking toward the podium toward the back of the room, his fingers starting to work the keyboard mounted on top of the podium. Dullahan knew exactly what he was doing, but neither of the Jarvins had heard about anything that Sedaris had been up to.

"I'd like to know what your bodyguard is doing up there," said Jarvin Sr., an annoyed look on his face. "I hope he's not over there looking up pornography."

Sedaris chuckled slightly, then began to speak.

"I did something much more fun," said Sedaris, his fingers working the keyboard for several more seconds, before stopping. The monitor displayed a blank screen, which only brought more puzzlement to both the elder and younger Jarvins. "I tracked Red X to a supermarket, where he and the Titans were fighting one of the local rogues. While he was fighting, I sent in a tiny probe, disguised as an ordinary mosquito, to take a small sample of his DNA. From that sample, I was able to discover Red X's exact identity. Gentlemen, feast your eyes on the face of the enemy."

Sedaris pressed 'Enter' on the keyboard, and the blank screen was quickly replaced an image of Sanza Salazar, namely, the picture from his school ID. Next to the picture were all of Sanza's vitals... height, weight, his age, his blood type, his religion, his interests, and the names of his friends and loved ones. Sedaris had produced Sanza's life, right there on the monitor for all four men to see.

"Sanza Salazar," said Jarvin Sr., his eyes narrowing. "A high-school kid managed to kill Dr. Ruell and steal some of my best tech."

"I... I can't believe this!" shouted Jarvin Jr., angrily rising from the table. "I'm not gonna let our empire be destroyed by some goddamn kid!"

"Calm down, calm down..." said Dullahan, his fingers interlocking below his chin, his lips curving into an evil smile. "He's not going to destroy _anything..._ because gentlemen, we're about to make Sanza Salazar's life a living hell."

O-O-O

Uh oh, that is NOT good for Sanza... or for Jump City. It's a race against time for the Teen Titans, while for Red X, it's a dangerous game where he'll have to watch over his shoulder every second... and he doesn't even know it yet! The excitement continues in the next chapter of Maiden of Stone!


	10. Last Dance With Mary Jane

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Teen Titans. If I did, this would be on TV and not here.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This doesn't take place in the same storyline as my "Forced Base" and "Fractured Heart" stories, so forget those when you're reading this. Also, about Sanza/Red X: When he's wearing the mask, he's Red X. When he's not, he's Sanza. Simple as that.

SECOND AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a sequel to "The Life and Times of Red X", which is in my profile. Read that before you read this. Also, this fic COMPLETELY IGNORES the events of the fifth season (with the exception of "Go"). For the purposes of this fic, "Things Change" NEVER HAPPENED.

O-O-O

Sanza knew he would be sore when he woke up that Friday morning... a night of stealing tanks, rescuing people from buildings, and battling pink-haired, luck manipulating supervillainesses could definitely do that to a person. He sat up in his bed and stretched out his arms, which took several seconds for him to actually get above his head without feeling that they were in excruciating pain. Today was an important day... the day before Maddy's birthday, and also a day when his class would be going on a field trip to a development office for LaredoSoft. It was the field trip that prompted Sanza to wear his Red X outfit under his clothing that day, keeping his mask and gloves tucked into the pockets of his jeans.

_"I should definitely try to do a bit of unauthorized snooping today... especially if they're planning to attack the city any time soon. If just that one little device could cause an earthquake that big, who knows what they might do with their _real _technology..."_

That night, of course, would be something else Sanza had been looking forward to... another date with Cleo, whom had all but declared that she was going steady with him. If there was anyone who could make Sanza feel a bit calmer about everything that was going on lately, it was Cleo... who just so happened to a member of the class that was going on the field trip that day.

After putting on his clothes, Sanza went downstairs and had breakfast like he always did, engaging in conversation with his mother and sister at the breakfast table. Maddy always left a few minutes before Sanza did, because her bus came sooner. Once Maddy had left, Maria decided that it was time once again to remind her son about his sister's impending birthday.

"Here, Sanza," said Maria, walking over to Sanza and handing him a $20 bill. "This is for your sister's present... go out and get her something today. Don't spend this on yourself or Cleo... I want you to keep the receipt so I'll know exactly what you spent the money on."

Maria was stern as she spoke the last few words, knowing from experience that Sanza couldn't always be trusted to spend money that he was given for the purpose that it had been given to him for. Sanza rolled his eyes and pocketed the money, prompting his mother to glare at him one last time.

"I mean it, Sanza..."

"I'll get her something nice, don't worry," he said, rising from the table and slinging his backpack over his shoulders. He hadn't intended to spend the money on anyone but Maddy anyway. Cleo, who had a job, had already graciously offered to pay for everything on the date that night, despite Sanza's repeated reminders that it wasn't proper for the woman to pay. Secretly, of course, he was greatly appreciative that Cleo was paying for everything, since he didn't have a cent to his name.

When he exited the kitchen and walked down the fire escape to the sidewalk, he noticed that somebody had already parked in the spot where the bus was going to be... a very familiar green car, with a very familiar occupant leaning her head out the passenger-side window.

"Sanza!" shouted Cleo, waving with one hand while her other outstretched arm rested on the steering wheel. "Hey, the bus is for chumps, ride with me to school, okay?"

Cleo had occasionally picked Sanza up to take him to school before, and on this particular day, it was a welcome surprise. Sanza accepted Cleo's offer, nodding his head and running over to her car, opening the door and climbing inside. He reached behind and placed his backpack on the back seat of the car before turning back around and smiling at his friend.

"Thanks, I didn't expect you to be here-"

"You never do, that's why you're always smiling when I pick you up," she said, leaning over and kissing Sanza on the cheek. "It's usually a lot more pleasant to be surprised... at least from what I can tell."

"Well, this was pretty pleasant," replied Sanza, as Cleo slowly started driving down the street. It was about a mile from the Salazars' apartment to the school, which meant that the two teenagers would have at least a few minutes to talk to one another. It was Sanza who started to speak, but Cleo cut him off immediately, wishing to talk about a far more pressing matter.

"Did you hear about that earthquake yesterday?" asked Cleo. Sanza nodded... of course he'd heard about the quake, he'd been the one right at the center of it! "I found out because a couple of my friends felt it... apparently it was some kinda freak thing, only over a really small area... what's great is that nobody died. There were quite a few people hurt, but all of them are expected to recover."

_"That's a huge relief..." _thought Sanza, leaning back into his seat. He would certainly hate to have caused any innocent people to die, even if it was technically an accident. "That's really cool."

"Yeah, apparently the Teen Titans had a lot to do with making sure many of those people wound up safe," said Cleo, looking over at Sanza and smiling. "And somebody else was there too... that Red X guy, you remember him, right? The guy who saved me and your mom and sis back at the Fall Carnival?"

Sanza nodded, not surprised that word had gotten out about Red X helping people in the quake. He just wondered how the media would react to his attack on the convention just a few hours earlier... it was getting to the point where nobody really knew _what _to think about Red X anymore, and was one of the reasons why he truly didn't like being bothered to perform heroic acts. It would confuse _way _too many people if Red X was seen robbing a safe one moment and saving some little girl's kitten the next. People would start thinking that Red X was a schizophrenic...

"Apparently he was seen at the convention center, too... Rob's gonna be really disappointed, because they've had to cancel the expo. He doesn't even get to come on the field trip today because he's not in Technology Applications class like you and I are. As for me, well... Red X seems like a real hero, even if he does run around stealing things. He's not like the other weirdos that attack the city... they don't care about human life at all, but apparently, Red X does."

"Y...yeah, he seems like a pretty cool guy to me," said Sanza, almost losing himself in Cleo's eyes as he listened to her talk about Red X. Hearing her speak so admirably of him made Sanza wonder if perhaps he should tell Cleo that he was indeed Red X. It wouldn't be that hard to do, he was wearing the suit under his clothes... but at the same time, he didn't know _how _Cleo would react, even if she did seem to like Red X. He hadn't told his mother and sister yet either, and they _had _to be higher priorities to Sanza than Cleo was. "The guy under the mask, what do you think he's like? You know, Red X's _true _identity."

"Oh... oh, I bet he's handsome..." said Cleo, a twinkle in her eyes as she came to a stop at a red light about four blocks from the school. "I mean, not handsome like _you_, of course... maybe, I dunno, blonde or something? Maybe a shorter version of Brad Pitt. Except Brad Pitt has more muscles, so..."

_"Is that the first guy _all _ladies think about?" _Sanza thought to himself, rolling his eyes as Cleo mentioned Brad Pitt's name. _"Seriously, there are other handsome men out there. Johnny Depp, Tom Cruise... oh, shit, she's got me thinking about handsome men! Yuck!"_

The light turned green, and once again, the car began making its way down the streets of Jump City. By now, Cleo had stopped thinking about Red X, and had once again started thinking about Sanza, whom she knew would probably be busy the next day with Maddy's birthday party. She was seeing him that night, of course, but knew that the next day, Sanza would be at his sister's twelfth birthday party, bored out of his mind.

"Sanza, where's your sister's party at tomorrow?" asked Cleo, her fingers drumming on the steering wheel as the car came to a stop at yet another red light.

"Chuck E. Cheese," replied Sanza, "which I guess isn't so bad, because I know that my mom's probably going to give me a bunch of money to play the games so I stay out of my sister's hair. Still, all those little girls running around... god, it's gonna be so crazy..."

"Want me to come over there tomorrow and keep you company?" asked Cleo, reaching over and gently touching Sanza's shoulder. "I know I'm not invited to the party, but a restaurant _is _a public place, so..."

Sanza smiled, flattered with Cleo's suggestion and happy that she would be so concerned for his welfare during his sister's birthday party. Still, the sight of Sanza's friends probably wouldn't sit well with some of Maddy's friends, who would probably complain about them to Maddy. Of course, Maddy didn't really mind Cleo, her relationship with her mostly consisting of jokes at she and Sanza's expense. Though Cleo would certainly be a welcome sight to Sanza at his sister's birthday party, the thought of a potential confrontation did much to discourage Sanza from accepting the idea, and he slowly shook his head.

"Better not," he said, a hint of disappointment in his voice. "I know it's technically a public place, but... some of Maddy's friends are really territorial, and I'm not sure how well my mom would take the idea, so..."

"That's all right," replied Cleo, though Sanza could tell that she was disappointed to. "Just... don't get yourself killed, or anything. I heard those ballpits can be pretty deep, and small children are just like little piranhas."

Cleo's piranha comment brought a quick laugh from Sanza, just as the car began to pull into the school parking lot. She began to laugh as well, not because of her own joke, but because to her, Sanza's happiness was contagious, and anything that made him laugh made her laugh too, regardless of how funny that it actually was.

"I guess I'll see you after first period, then," said Cleo, stepping out of the car and walking around to meet Sanza as he emerged from the passenger side. She leaned over and kissed him warmly before turning and walking toward the school's entrance, Sanza lagging several steps behind.

Sanza treasured the times that he had alone with people like Cleo... she was funny, she was sweet, and she always seemed to brighten his day. If Sanza couldn't have Starfire, which at this point seemed almost a certainty, then Cleo was the next best thing... and perhaps, thought Sanza, Cleo might actually turn out to be much better...

Neither he nor Cleo had any idea how prophetic their conversation about Red X would be... and Sanza still had no idea that the men who were about to mount a destructive assault on Jump City were now targeting him, hoping to eliminate him before he could throw any sort of wrench into their plans. It would be people like Cleo that would prove to be Sanza's Achilles heel... and neither of them had any idea how much danger they were truly in.

O-O-O

Jump City was beautiful in the morning sunlight... the low angle at which the rising sun reflected against the glass buildings gave them a warm, yellow glow, and the view of the buildings from Terra's room in Titans Tower was spectacular. So many buildings, with so many people working and living inside of them... and Terra had twice almost destroyed them all. The second and most recent time, she would have been completely oblivious... a mere weapon, controlled by a diabolical scientist.

_"The only reason I'm alive... is because that madman wanted to use me as a weapon... and if Beast Boy and Red X hadn't shown up to stop him, I would have been... I would have been..."_

Terra hadn't spoken to Beast Boy since she'd stormed out of the main room the previous night, too racked with grief and guilt to speak to anyone before she'd simply gone to bed and had slept a dreamless sleep. When she woke up, she still felt horrible... and had still denied Beast Boy any chances to speak with her. It wasn't that she was angry with him... though she did wish he'd have told her about being used as a weapon as soon as she'd been revived.

But then, of course, Terra might not have been willing to return to the Titans... she had already been in a fragile emotional state the night of her revival, and news like that may well have pushed her over the edge. She couldn't blame Beast Boy, or anyone else for that matter, for not telling her about the true purpose of her revival. Besides, the man who revived her had been pointed out to her just minutes after she'd been brought back... it was her fault that she just couldn't put two and two together.

A knock came on Terra's door... immediately thinking that it was Beast Boy, she hesitated to speak... she wanted to talk to him again, but wasn't quite sure if she was ready. As she started to trigger the mechanism that would open the door and allow whoever was outside to come in, she heard a voice begin to speak... and it wasn't Beast Boy's.

"Terra, it's Robin... I just wanted to ask you how you were doing."

"Robin..."

Terra opened the door and gestured for Robin to come in, a disappointed look clearly evident on her face. Robin could tell that she'd probably been expecting Beast Boy, and offered to go get him before Terra shook her head.

"I can wait a little while longer to talk to him," Terra said. "As for me... I guess I'm still just a bit shellshocked about that piece of info last night... about how those people we're going after wanted to use _me _to-"

"It's over now... you're not going to be a weapon anymore, and those people aren't going to be destroying the city at all if we have something to say about it. We're going to go scouting around the city today to see if we can find anywhere that those people might be manufacturing a new weapon."

The earthquake had been caused by a seismic generator... Robin had heard of the device only once before, when he had mistakenly thought that Slade had been trying to use such a device to destroy the city. Now, it seemed, his worst nightmares were coming true... but it wasn't Slade causing the destruction, it was a new evil... perhaps an evil even worse than Slade himself.

Or perhaps, thought Robin, a group under the control of Slade... it wasn't entirely out of the question, though he knew that it was probably his own paranoia that caused him to think that Slade was the cause of everything. Slade himself hadn't been seen ever since the events of Mt. Cappalani, when Red X had been too afraid for his own safety to detonate a device that would likely have caused the deaths of both himself and Slade.

_"He had a chance to do what Terra did... and he couldn't go through with it," _thought Robin, still slightly bitter that Red X hadn't taken the opportunity to destroy Slade when he had the chance. _"I guarantee that Slade's going to come back... and he's probably going to come after you when he does."_

"Robin!" shouted Terra, derailing the Boy Wonder's train of thought. In his internal musings about Slade and the generator, he'd been ignoring Terra's comments for the last half minute. "I was trying to tell you that I'm going out with all of you to try and find these guys! I'm not going to let them get away with what they tried to make _me _do..."

"So... you're feeling better, then?"

"Yes..." said Terra, though her nod was slightly tentative... she knew that she needed a little bit more time to be fully prepared to return to battle. And she also needed to speak to Beast Boy. "Are we going out right now?"

"This afternoon," Robin replied, turning away from Terra and starting to leave the room. "Breakfast should be done in a few minutes... are you going to be-"

"Yeah, I'm coming," said Terra, watching Robin disappear as the door slid closed behind him. She walked back over to her bed and sat down, looking up at the ceiling while slowly kicking her legs beneath her. _"Even though I'm not really all that hungry..."_

O-O-O

"Raven, how long do _you _think Terra's going to be like this?"

Beast Boy had been reluctant to visit Raven's room, but knew that the only way he was going to get any answers about the way that Terra was feeling, besides speaking with Terra herself, was by consulting with Raven, the team's resident empath. Not only did Raven most likely know a lot about Terra's emotions, but speaking with Raven was always comforting for Beast Boy... even when she treated him with sarcasm and contempt.

"Depends," said Raven, seated on a chair facing away from her dresser and looking up at Beast Boy, who was standing a few feet in front of her. "She's still troubled about everything that she's done since meeting us... and finding out that she was going to be used as a weapon is _obviously _disturbing to her."

"It's just that... I want Terra to be happy, but every time that it seems that she _is _happy, something happens to make her sad again... someone says something, or does something... sometimes she'll just be standing around thinking, and she'll become as mopey as you! Uh... no offense."

"None taken," replied Raven, though the look on her face clearly gave away that she wasn't too happy with Beast Boy's comment. "Beast Boy, she spent ten months in a stone prison, probably spending a lot of that time having nightmares about who knows what. Do you know what post-traumatic stress disorder is?"

"Uh... no?" Beast Boy replied, scratching his head. "Is that like when you're at a restaurant, and the lady messes up your order, so-"

"No, it's _not _that, Beast Boy," said Raven. "It's when something horrible happens to you... so horrible that you keep seeing it in your head over and over again. You dream about it at night, you think about it during the day..."

Now Beast Boy was beginning to understand what Raven meant, though he still didn't quite know why Terra was acting the way that she was. She had told him that she remembered some of her time as a statue, but that most of it had been like sleeping... so why would she be suffering so much from what Beast Boy figured to be an extended nap?

"I... I guess I understand, but... does that mean that I shouldn't say anything to her?"

Raven shook her head.

"Actually, it would probably help her to have someone nearby to be there for her... to empathize with her and to talk to her when she needs someone to make her not feel so scared and alone. I think you're doing a good thing by trying to talk to her, Beast Boy. She really does care about you, and I think she trusts you far more than she does the rest of us."

Beast Boy listened to Raven's words carefully, and was quickly able to draw meaning from them, understanding that it would be up to him to make Terra feel better, no matter how guilty or how sad that she was. He thanked Raven, and turned to leave her room, just as another thought entered his head, causing him to stop in the doorway.

_"Did... did Raven just describe the same thing that she already does for me?"_

Lately, and especially in recent weeks, Raven had almost always been the one to make Beast Boy feel better whenever something had been troubling him. Her advice had given him both strength and wisdom, and even though she'd been reluctant to give it at first, as time went on, she seemed less and less uncomfortable with talking to Beast Boy, as long as he tried to refrain from being funny.

"So... are you going to talk to Terra, or... you're just standing in my doorway," said Raven, clearly trying to get him to go out into the hallway so she could close her door. "Just uh... just move forward, just a little bit."

"Sorry," said Beast Boy, laughing a bit as he took a step forward, allowing the door to close behind him. He began walking down the hall toward Terra's room, when suddenly, he heard a loud alarm, and saw flashing red lights filling the hall of the tower. _"Aww, man..."_

There was trouble in Jump City again.

O-O-O

"Now, this is the engineering facility, where our employees actually design the software to run the weapons that are created in the production facility a few miles out of town. From _there_, the weapons are then sent to the military, who purchases our products at the rate of..."

The tour of LaredoSoft had been uneventful... far too uneventful for Sanza's taste. He languished toward the back of the group, placing himself as far away from the tour guide or the teacher as he possibly could in order to relieve himself of the boredom of the tour by talking to Cleo every few seconds. The two of them talked in low whispers, getting laughs by making jokes about the female tour guide's slightly plump figure, or about what she did whenever she got off of work, most of the jokes revolving around eating.

"I bet she's hungry," whispered Sanza, watching as the tour guide led the group past a long row of vending machines. "I bet that took _all _of her strength not to buy something from one of those machines."

"I can just see her, I can see her like, hitting the machine, over and over," replied Cleo, causing Sanza to let out a quiet laugh. "Like... 'where's my candy bar? Gimme ten! Gimme twenty!'"

It wasn't long before Cleo was laughing too hard to continue her joke, and too loudly to not draw attention from the teacher, who walked back toward the end of the group and began reprimanding the redhead for her actions.

"That woman is trying to tell us about this place, and you're back here making _way _too much noise!" hissed the teacher, who by now had caused several other students to look back and see what he was doing, causing a much bigger distraction than Cleo herself was doing. "Do you want to get back on the bus? I can put you right back on that bus, little missy!"

"I wanna get back on the bus," grumbled Sanza, deliberately loud enough for the teacher to hear. This was his opportunity to get away from the group so that he could become Red X and investigate this place further, and he wasn't going to waste it. The teacher immediately turned away from Cleo and faced Sanza.

"What did you say?" asked the teacher, but one of the students in the group was more than happy to repeat it for him. A boy with glasses and a very squeaky voice tugged on the teacher's sleeve to get his attention, even as several other students tried to pull him away, unhappy that the class dork would so eagerly rat Sanza out.

"He said that he wanted to get back on the bus," said the kid in glasses, sniffling and scrunching up his nose to correct the bridge of his glasses, which had started to slip off of his nose.

The teacher narrowed his eyes at Sanza, before pointing angrily in the direction from which the group had just come. He'd put up with Sanza's shenanigans before, and wasn't about to have one of his students acting up on a field trip.

"Go back to the bus," said the teacher, prompting Sanza to shrug his shoulders and immediately begin walking in the direction that the teacher had pointed. "I'm going to write a referral for you as soon as we get back to the school."

The teacher then turned and walked away with his other students, but Cleo lagged behind, watching Sanza as he casually walked down the hallway without a care in the world. She felt guilty for getting him in trouble, knowing in her heart that he'd only spoken up so that the teacher would get off of _her _case and jump on his instead. She quickly ran over to Sanza, placing a hand on his shoulder and prompting him to turn around. As soon as Sanza turned, Cleo grabbed him, placing her hands on the sides of his face and pulling his lips to hers.

"What... was that for?" said Sanza as soon as Cleo's lips pulled away from his. She smiled sweetly, her hand lightly brushing his cheek.

"You know what it was for," she replied. "But why did you... I mean, I probably wouldn't have even gotten in that much-"

"I have my reasons," said Sanza. "You should probably get back with the rest of the group, before you _do _get in trouble..."

Cleo nodded, and quickly rushed back to join her fellow students, leaving Sanza standing by himself in the middle of the hallway. Of course, he had no intention of going back to the bus... he was going to become Red X and find out exactly what these LaredoSoft people were up to, and whether or not they were in the process of designing a city-destroying doomsday device at this very facility.

He couldn't just become Red X out here... there were people who could see him, security guards and workers were likely all over the place. Instead, he would have to find a bathroom in order to change... he'd remembered seeing the restrooms a few minutes earlier, and retraced his group's path until he found two wooden doors, one of them marked 'Men's', and the other marked 'Women's'.

_"Here we go," _thought Sanza, slowly pushing open the men's room door. Suddenly, he could feel a hand roughly grab his arm, quickly turning him around. He found himself staring face to face with a tall man wearing a well-pressed black suit, not unlike a member of the Secret Service... the man was even wearing sunglasses. "Uh... I was just going to the bathroom before-"

"You've been identified as a security risk," said the man, "and you're going to need to come with me."

Sanza's mind began to race as he wondered what exactly this man could be wanting him for. Did he know that Sanza had been removed from the tour group, and was simply going to escort the young man out to his bus?

"I... I can find my way to the bus, it's all right."

"You're not _going _to your bus," said the man, leading Sanza down the hall, turning right and continuing to walk until he reached a door marked 'Employees Only'. He pushed through the door, escorting Sanza into another long hallway, where he could begin to hear the sounds of keyboards rapidly being operated in the background. This was one of the areas in which employees worked on the company's numerous top-secret projects, and Sanza quickly realized that he was exactly where he wanted to be... but under _very _bad circumstances. "We have reason to believe you might attempt to steal this company's property, and we're going to hold you until the police arrive."

Sanza's eyes widened, but he didn't attempt to pull out of the man's grip... he simply allowed himself to be escorted until the man reached a room marked 'Secured Area C', taking out a keycard and swiping it in a slot built into the door just above its handle. The door opened, and the man pulled Sanza inside. The room he'd taken Sanza into was a bright, windowless space measuring twenty feet on each side. A single, metallic chair sat at the back of the room, and the man placed Sanza in the chair, before reaching down to his waist and taking out a pair of handcuffs.

"Place both hands behind the chair," said the man. A lump appeared in Sanza's throat, and he narrowed his eyes, giving the man a quizzical expression.

"I can't _go _anywhere, you know," said Sanza, indicating the door. "That thing locks, right? So there's no way I can escape anyway. I mean-"

The man went around behind the chair and grabbed Sanza's wrists, pulling them around the two metallic bars behind the chair. The man's grip was far too strong for Sanza to free himself from, and within seconds, he found his hands cuffed tightly behind the chair, keeping him locked helplessly in place. As Sanza began to grimace and struggle, the man turned and exited the room, locking the door behind him without saying a word.

Something had to be up... but it wasn't until the man left the room that Sanza realized that he was in far more danger than he'd previously thought. The man somehow knew that Sanza was Red X... or if he didn't, someone had tipped him off that Sanza was a threat. Either way, with his hands cuffed behind him, there was no way for Sanza to reach the X gloves that were trapped in his pockets, which meant that the suit's gadgets were worthless, even if he _did _have the suit on. No gloves meant no focus... and no way for Sanza to free himself.

_"Shit..." _thought Sanza, leaning his back against the metallic frame of the chair. He was trembling slightly, and it wasn't because the chair was cold. He was scared... and he could feel the hairs start to stand up on the back of his neck. _"How am I supposed to get myself out of this one?"_

O-O-O

The dangerous villain Kardiak had been making a mess of downtown Jump City, using its tentacle-like valves to smash cars, knock down fruit stands, and rip windows to shreds, scattering debris all over the street and creating a very messy situation for the Teen Titans. Fortunately, it was the time of day when very few children were out on the streets, and so the main threat from Kardiak, that it would suck children into its large, heart-shaped body, was mostly nonexistent.

Still, the Titans certainly had their hands full making sure the monstrous villain wouldn't be endangering any of the adults out on the streets, making their way back and forth from their various places of employment.

"He's putting up a lot of fight for a giant mechanical heart monster, isn't he?" quipped Terra, directing her question toward Beast Boy.

"Kardiak never seems to learn his lesson," said Beast Boy, just before transforming into a large green tiger and latching onto one of Kardiak's valves, attempting to rip the metallic appendage from its body. "Grrrrrrrr!"

Kardiak wildly swung the valve that Beast Boy had attached himself to, while also attempting to defend itself from the Titans' other numerous attacks. Starfire and Cyborg were hitting Kardiak with a constant bombardment of energy blasts, while Robin had wrapped his Batcables around the beast's body and was attempting to bring it down with one mighty tug.

"Robin, behind you!" shouted Starfire. As she attempted to warn Robin that one of Kardiak's valves was behind him, attempting to suck him up, she herself was sucked up into one of the valves, appearing trapped within its red, pulsating body just a few seconds later. "HELP!"

"Starfire!" shouted Robin, rolling out of the way of the valve trying to suck _him _in, before tossing several Bird-a-rangs at the area connecting Kardiak's valve to the rest of its body. The valve was quickly severed, falling to the ground... though it still had several more, and was quite willing to use them.

While Robin was frantically trying to get Starfire out from the outside, she began to fire Starbolts at the _inside _of her prison, with little luck, as the energy blasts were simply too weak to damage Kardiak's tough exterior.

"Starfire, you gotta try to stay calm!" advised Cyborg, using his scanner to get a readout of Kardiak's structure, while at the same time rolling out of the way as two of its large valves came crashing down on either side of him, both ripping out a decent-sized chunk of concrete from the ground as they impacted. "If you destroy Kardiak while you're inside, you run the risk of seriously injuring _yourself_!"

After some effort, Kardiak managed to toss Beast Boy off of its valve, and Raven held back against the beast, knowing what happened the last time she went overboard in attempting to destroy it. She'd nearly harmed the child trapped inside, and she did _not _want a repeat of that incident, especially since Kardiak's prisoner this time around was one of her best friends.

"Raven, are you okay?" asked Terra, repeatedly battering the base of Kardiak's frame with small rocks, in an attempt to break the bottom apart so that Starfire could escape. "Your attacks, they're not as powerful as-"

"You worry about your attacks, I'll worry about mine," replied Raven, closing her eyes and levitating herself into the air. "Azarath, metreon-"

Her concentration and focus were broken by one of Kardiak's valves, slamming into her chest in a hard whiplash motion that sent the gray-skinned Titan flying all the way back into a nearby building, where she impacted the wall hard and was nearly knocked unconscious by the force of the blow. Terra gasped, then turned to face Kardiak, a new plan rapidly forming in her mind.

"Starfire, get to the side of the cage, now!" shouted Terra. Starfire was a bit taken aback, but quickly complied, pressing her body against the inside of Kardiak as much as she could. Terra closed her eyes and began to focus, and suddenly, a large spike of earth pierced the bottom of Kardiak's frame, causing it to let out a loud, gurgled cry of anguish and stop in its tracks, its valves slumping to the ground. Starfire's body was just inches from the spike, and she let out a surprised scream, still shaking as the earthen impaling device slowly withdrew from inside Kardiak's body. "Now climb out through the hole!"

Starfire complied, slipping out of Kardiak and rolling away just as the beast repaired itself, resealing the prison, but with Starfire already on the outside. She quickly made it to her feet and ran over to Terra, offering a quick 'thank you' out of gratitude for having been freed.

"Don't mention it," said Terra, crouching down into a fighting position alongside Starfire. "Now let's put this thing away for good!"

O-O-O

Sanza strained against the cuffs for several minutes, only sustaining bruises for his efforts in the sad realization that there was no way that he'd be able to escape. Now his mind dwelled on exactly what these people were going to do to him... would they really call the cops, as they had said? Or did they have something far more sinister in mind? These people didn't play around... Sanza knew that he was probably much more valuable dead than he could ever be alive.

_"You have to think, Sanza... you've been in fixes like this before... not without use of the suit, but..." _Sanza shifted uncomfortably, his breathing starting to pick up. Sweat was already running down his forehead, and the lump in his throat continued to grow. How did these people find out who he was? Did one of the Titans sell him out? It couldn't be that, they were just as interested in protecting the city as he was.

Maybe it was Slade... maybe these people were working with him, _that _had to be the reason they'd taken him. Slade was the only person he knew besides the Titans or Father Abeula who had his identity. Then again, there was always Mumbo... though from what he'd seen of _him_, Mumbo was far too incompetent to be working with corporate powerbrokers. It was Slade... it _had _to be Slade, unless there was some way that these men could actually figure out who he was without ever having seen him without his suit.

_"Then again, that metal detector we all had to go through might've pegged me as Red X..." _thought Sanza. It wouldn't have tripped, of course, because Xynothium was designed to be undetectable... but maybe the people running this place had some other way of seeing through Sanza's clothes and catching the suit. _"Maybe it's _not _Slade... but maybe it is... either way, I'm in serious trouble if I don't get out of here..."_

The door to the room opened, and Sanza let out a slight gasp, instinctively sliding back into his chair. _Here they are... the people who are coming to take me away... or to kill me... or..._

"Sanza?" whispered a voice that he _never _expected to hear, a voice that was immediately accompanied by a face that Sanza never expected to see. It was Cleo, quietly entering the room, holding a keycard in her hand... that he wondered just how in the hell she had managed to get. "Are you all right?"

"Do I look all right?" replied Sanza, though a smile was rapidly forming on his face. Cleo was right, surprises _did _tend to be more pleasant... but he still _had _to know how she'd actually managed to find him, not to mention how she'd actually gotten into this room. "Cleo... how in the world-"

"The teacher sent me back to make sure you were getting on the bus..." said Cleo, walking behind Sanza's chair and inspecting the cuffs around his wrists. She knelt down, and began running her fingers along the chain connecting the cuffs. "When I came back, I saw you with that guy... I hid around the corner and watched him take you away... then waited outside that 'Employees Only' door until that guy came back. I grabbed the keycard out of his back pocket and came in to find you... I checked like three other doors before reaching this one, I can't believe I was actually able to find you without getting caught..."

Sanza continued to be worried, even though his savior was right behind him. If both of them were caught, then they would be in serious danger...

"Cleo, what are you doing?" asked Sanza in an anxious tone. "Those cuffs, they-"

"Trust me, I've babysat and been tied up by little brats enough times to know a few escape tricks," replied Cleo.

"These aren't those toy cuffs you buy at the grocery store, these are like the ones the cops use!" whispered Sanza, letting out an exasperated sigh.

"I know," she replied, slowly walking around to the front of the chair and looking up into Sanza's eyes, a calm smile on her face. "Police officers take night shifts all the time, so I end up watching their kids quite often, and guess what they use when they want to incapacitate the babysitter so that they can dig freely out of the cookie jar? They use their parent's cuffs. Trust me, I know how to get out of them. All you have to do, is..."

Sanza carefully listened to Cleo's instructions, then slowly began to follow them, taking about half a minute before he was finally able to work his hands free of the cuffs, though he'd lost a bit of skin on his upper wrists. His hands free, he stood up and hugged Cleo tightly, grateful to her for having helped him escape.

"Sanza, what did these guys want with you?" Cleo whispered as Sanza parted from her and began rubbing his wrists. "You didn't try to steal anything from them, did you?"

Sanza shook his head, quickly thinking up a lie to keep himself from having to reveal his identity as Red X to Cleo. He certainly didn't need to be explaining anything _else_, especially when he knew that he and his girlfriend needed to quickly get out of the building to avoid being in danger.

"They just caught me walking around without ID... I was going by a restricted area and one of their guards grabbed me... it's the teacher's fault for letting me go to the bus by myself without an escort."

"Yeah, that is pretty retarded," said Cleo, walking with Sanza out into the hallway and quickly leaving the restricted area of the building. Fortunately, there wasn't anyone walking around who could see either of them before they made it out of the 'Employees Only' area and into the halls leading toward the entrance of the facility. "Especially a business like this... look, you should probably get back to the bus... and I think I'm gonna come with you."

Sanza stopped in the middle of the hallway, a quizzical look on his face as he turned back toward Cleo.

"Well, it's lonely and boring on that bus, and if I go back to the group, I'll be equally bored of this stupid tour, so... yeah, I'll just come back and talk to you until everybody else comes back."

"Cleo, what if you get in trouble, too? I mean, weren't you just thanking me earlier for keeping you _out _of trouble, and then... besides, we're seeing each other tonight anyway."

Cleo let out a sigh, rolling her eyes and starting to turn back. Sanza quickly reached out to stop her, his hand latching onto her shoulder.

"Then again... I guess... okay, sure," said Sanza, hoping that a conversation with Cleo on the bus might get his mind off of everything that had happened... and what had almost happened to him if Cleo hadn't come to set him free. "And... thanks for helping me out."

"I totally owed you," replied Cleo, leaning over and giving Sanza a quick peck on the lips as the two of them made their way out into the lobby and toward the entrance of the building. The guards at the entrance of the building let them go past without saying a word.

They'd been given new orders... and for now, Sanza was going to be allowed his freedom. Someone was watching Sanza and Cleo exit the building together... and made a note of the way that the two were holding hands and laughing as they left.

O-O-O

"We mopped the _floor _with Kardiak today!" Beast Boy, always the most easily excitable of the Titans, was once again proclaiming their dominance as the six teammates celebrated their victory over lunch at a nearby fast-food restaurant. Since Raven had used her powers to repair the building's windows, the meal was free, and the Titans took full advantage, as their table was almost completely covered with trays of food.

"Remember, team, our work isn't done yet... we're still going to investigate the situation with the group of men that Red X described to us," said Robin, holding a triple cheeseburger in his right hand. The other Titans nodded in agreement, and Starfire, after sipping from a milkshake, began to speak.

"I am sure that we will be able to find them before they carry out their plans... I just wish that Red X would be able to assist us..." said Starfire, a hint of regret in her voice.

"Well, you know X," said Cyborg, before offering up his best imitation of Red X's casual, 'I'm too bad to be good' manner of speaking. "I don't play the hero... I'd rather steal stuff and piss off Robin. Starfire, you're looking reeeeeeeeeal nice today."

Beast Boy laughed hard enough to shoot a stream of cola from his nose, while Terra simply giggled, still by far the least familiar with the mysterious thief known as Red X. She'd only known him for a single day, and their sole conversation had been... 'interesting', to say the least. It was him who'd broken the news that she had been intended for use as a weapon, and he hadn't even been addressing her directly when he said it.

"Red X told me that Slade had tried to make him his apprentice... is that true?" asked Terra, receiving a quick nod from Robin.

"That's right... that was the only time when we actually fought together with him," replied Robin. "X realized that his life and his family were in danger, so he came to us for help. We just about defeated Slade, but..."

Robin was reluctant to continue, knowing that X's situation and Terra's contained so many parallels that it might stir up bad memories within the girl again. She could tell that he was hesitating, and stared at him for several seconds, waiting for him to finish. It was then that Beast Boy broke the silence with a loud, piercing scream.

"I ordered a tofu burger, but this is _real _meat!" shouted Beast Boy, pointing at the hamburger on his tray in disgust, then opening his mouth and pointing to his tongue. "I just ate a _real _animal! A real dead animal!"

"Oh no, better lower the flags to half-mast, Beast Boy ate a dead animal," said Raven, sighing and shaking her head. "Honestly, I'm sure the cow doesn't mind. Want me to see if I can contact him from beyond the grave?"

Terra watched Beast Boy and Raven's latest argument, and began to forget about her current train of thought, revolving around Red X and his history with Slade. It was obvious that the other Titans didn't want to talk to her about it... so maybe, thought Terra, she would just have to ask the thief himself... whenever she saw him next, that is.

O-O-O

Neither Sanza nor Cleo's idea of a date involved searching through the aisles of Super Bargain-Mart for a suitable birthday present for a twelve-year-old girl, but it wasn't until the two were in the car, headed for dinner that Sanza realized he'd forgotten to do something _very _important. Fortunately, Cleo didn't mind... any time with Sanza was, to her, time worth spending, and it certainly was comical watching her boyfriend search through the toy aisles, bumping into small children with nearly every step he took.

"See, I don't even know what mom already got her, so I'm completely at a loss for ideas," said Sanza, picking up a box that contained a Teen Titans action figure playset. "I mean, I know she loves the Teen Titans, but... these toys really don't depict them accurately at all. I wonder if they ever come around here looking at these things, because their good names are really being ruined by all this crappy merchandise."

"When I was twelve, I got a bunch of clothes, a couple of CDs, and a playhouse for my cat... who died six months later after a car hit him," said Cleo, briefly sad as she recalled the memory of her dead kitten. "Do you know what kind of music Maddy likes?"

"Trust me, she's got _every _CD she could possibly want already," replied Sanza. "I hear them through the walls sometimes... even if she _did _need new CDs, I wouldn't buy them for her."

Cleo giggled, knowing exactly what Sanza meant... her parents frequently complained about her _own _loud music numerous times over the years.

"Does she like books? Maybe we could get her a nice book... as much as _I _hate them, maybe there's a book here that she would like."

Maddy _did _enjoy reading, but usually checked out the books that she wanted from either the school library or the public library. Very rarely did she actually go out and buy the books on her own... she saved whatever money that she had for music. Still, Sanza _could _think of one book in particular that Maddy might enjoy... and he gestured for Cleo to follow him as he began walking toward the store's book section. He passed several rows of appliances and the store's pharmacy before finally making it to a long rack of books and magazines.

"She _loves _looking at pictures of things... she doesn't want to be a photographer, or anything like that, but she'll read things like the National Geographic, just to look at some of the pretty pictures they have inside," said Sanza, searching among the rows of books until he found exactly the one he wanted, a large, hardcover book with a fold-in cover, titled 'Mexico City: A Pictorial Compendium'. "This book... she saw this in here a few weeks ago and wanted to stop to look at it, but mom was in a hurry, so she couldn't."

He picked up the book and began flipping through the pages... several hundred pages of pictures lay within, including beautiful views of the mountains surrounding the city, an entire chapter on the city's ancient Aztec monuments, and pages that depicted the insides and outsides of some of the city's most beautiful buildings.

"She's got a mural of Mexico City up on her wall... we visited the city once a few years back, and Maddy just loved it there..."

"It's a beautiful book," said Cleo, pointing at one of the pictures that depicted several destroyed buildings in a residential area of the city. "That's not so beautiful, though..."

"There was an earthquake there a few years before you and I were born," said Sanza, flipping to the end of the book so that he could see the price marked on the inside cover. "Oh... oh shit, it's thirty-four ninety-five. Mom gave me twenty bucks."

"Well, actually, it's twenty-seven forty-seven," said Cleo, pointing to a sticker on the back cover of the book, with 'Bargain-Mart: Saving You Lots Of Money' printed just above the reduced price.

"That's still more than twenty bucks, though," replied Sanza, moving to place the book back on the shelf. _"I guess I'll get Maddy a CD... and have to listen to it every day through my wall for the next month."_

Before Sanza could put the book back, however, Cleo stopped him... displaying a ten-dollar-bill in her left hand.

"I've got it covered," said Cleo, handing Sanza the money and helping him pull the book back down from the shelf. Sanza instinctively shook his head, but Cleo gave a warm smile and placed her hand on his. "It's for your sister, right? You love your sister, so in my opinion, it's for you. And tell her I said happy birthday."

With every passing moment, it seemed like Cleo was getting nicer and nicer... and Sanza was growing more and more fond of her. He didn't even think that Starfire would've done what Cleo just did, giving him ten of her hard-earned dollars to help him buy a birthday present for his sister.

_"Maybe I was wrong about Starfire..." _thought Sanza, walking up to the checkout area with Cleo to purchase the book. _"Maybe Cleo's the one I should be going after... I mean, I already have her, and... and she's just as wonderful, and as kind, and as beautiful as Starfire... so maybe... maybe she _is _the one for me."_

O-O-O

That night's date only served to confirm Sanza's thoughts about Cleo even more. After dinner, the two had gone to see a movie, which both had ended up enjoying very much. After spending some time just sitting in the car and talking, the two finally decided to go back home for the night... with Cleo pulling up in Sanza's driveway just before midnight. The lights in the second and third floors of the apartment were off, Maria and Maddy were most likely asleep.

"Sanza... I had such a wonderful evening with you tonight," said Cleo, leaning in close to Sanza and placing her hands on his. "Don't tell your mom I helped pay for the gift..."

"I... I kinda have to, she gave me the twenty bucks and if I show her a receipt for something that costs more, she'll wonder where I got the money from..."

Cleo giggled slightly, nodding her head to indicate that Sanza could indeed tell his mother about her paying for the balance on the gift.

"Well... I guess this is goodnight then..." said Cleo, her eyes looking right into Sanza's. Sanza knew exactly what she wanted... and it was the exact same thing that he wanted, which his hand slowly wrapping around Cleo's back made perfectly clear.

"Yeah... this is... goodnight..."

In an instant, the two were tightly embracing, their hands around each other's backs, their lips pressed tightly together, their mouths wide open. Sanza and Cleo's relationship, which had started several years ago as friends, was now culminating in this, a furious display of passion. Sanza was in love with Cleo, madly in love with her, and neither of them could let their pent-up emotions wait even one more second.

It was Cleo who began removing Sanza's shirt first, though Sanza followed just a second after. In the heat of the moment, it took both of them more than ten seconds to get each other's shirts off, and once they'd accomplished that, they continued their makeout session for half a minute more, both of them now breathing heavily, with sweat starting to run down their faces.

"Sanza..." gasped Cleo, letting out a quiet moan as Sanza slowly began unbuttoning her jeans, both of them nearly completely engulfed in their own physical impulses. "Wait... wait a second..."

Sanza slowly and reluctantly leaned back, his hands stopping just short of the zipper of Cleo's jeans. She put her hand to her forehead for a couple of seconds, her eyes staring off into space as if she was trying to think of something.

_"Damn... too fast..." _thought Sanza, wiping the sweat from his forehead and mentally berating himself for trying to put the moves on Cleo so quickly. _"Unless..."_

"Shit..." she whispered, shaking her head and looking up at the ceiling of the car. "I'm such a fucking idiot..."

"Cleo?" Sanza said quizzically, slowly reaching over toward the driver's side of the car.

"I knew we were gonna be doing this... I didn't bring any protection... fuck!"

Of course, Sanza had no _idea _that the two of them would be having sex in Cleo's car... and he probably wouldn't have even wanted to do the deed if he hadn't realized his feelings about her during their date. He hadn't brought protection either, and let out a sigh, leaning against his door with his hand on his forehead.

"I'm sorry, Sanza... I mean, I wouldn't... yanno, I wouldn't mind either way, but... if I got pregnant, I mean... you're Catholic, and... and there's no way I'd... I mean, I wouldn't want to get an abortion out of respect for _you_, so, I mean..."

"No, no, it's fine... that's okay, Cleo, I should've brought a condom or two, but-"

"Rain check?" said Cleo, leaning over and placing her hand on Sanza's wrist, giving him a smile. Sanza nodded, before slowly starting to put his shirt back on, a visible disappointment in his gestures. "I... I mean, next time we go out..."

"Sure, yeah..." said Sanza, watching as Cleo re-buttoned her jeans and put her t-shirt back on. He couldn't believe he'd actually come that close... and with a girl that he genuinely, truly, deeply cared about... of course, there's no way his mom would approve, but that didn't matter... there were a _lot _of things he did that she probably wouldn't approve of.

Being Red X, for example.

"Well, I really did have a wonderful night, even though we didn't... I'll _definitely _bring it next time, I swear," said Cleo, a smile on her face. She leaned over and kissed Sanza one more time, then blew him another kiss as he opened the door. "Goodnight, Sanza... I love you."

"I love you too, Cleo..."

Sanza slowly climbed out of the car, walking toward the fire escape and climbing up the stairs to his room. Cleo watched him the entire time he climbed up to his room, waiting until he disappeared from view before moving her hand up toward the ignition. She leaned over and closed the passenger-side door, which Sanza hadn't done after he'd exited the car, then leaned back into her seat, a sigh escaping her lips.

_"He's the sweetest boy I've ever known... I know we're going to have a wonderful family someday..."_

At that instant, a gloved hand clasped over Cleo's mouth from behind. She let out a scream, only to find a knife placed firmly against her throat.

"If you want to live, you're going to do everything that I say..." came a deep, gravely voice from behind Cleo's seat. She let out several more involuntary screams, all of which were muffled by the hand over her lips. She was terrified, and it took nearly ten seconds for her to calm herself down enough to nod. "You're going to go for a little drive, exactly where I tell you to go. If you deviate from my instructions in any way, I will kill you."

Two men in ski masks had crawled into the car while Cleo was watching Sanza enter his room... while one of them kept his knife to her throat and his hand over her mouth, the other crawled up into the seat beside Cleo, producing two plastic zipties.

"Keep your hands on the steering wheel," said the man seated next to Cleo. She did as she was told... the sharp blade being pressed into her jugular gave her no other choice. He secured the zipties around Cleo's wrists and the top of the steering wheel, tightening them so that, while Cleo could still drive, she couldn't move her hands from the wheel, not even an inch. He then took out a roll of clear, wide tape, ripping off a long strip and stretching it out. "When his hand comes off of your mouth, keep your mouth closed... scream and you die."

Cleo was trembling, tears starting to form in her eyes. Who were these men? Were they robbers? Rapists? Murderers? As the man behind Cleo slipped his hand away from her mouth, she was too stunned to even try to scream... and when the tape was pressed over her lips, she was no longer able to.

"Now do exactly as I say," said the man behind Cleo, still holding the knife to her throat as the other man turned the car's ignition and climbed into the back seat next to his partner. "Back out of the driveway slowly. If, at any point during this trip we're going to make, I hear police sirens... I will cut your throat."

Still holding the knife to Cleo's throat with one hand, the man reached over and pulled the car's gearshift into reverse. The man sitting next to him began to make a phone call.

"We followed your instructions exactly, sir... we have the girl. We're bringing her to the production facility now."

O-O-O

Sedaris stood on the roof of the Mycoso Building, leaning against the building's tall, metallic spire and using his right hand to hold a cellular phone up to his face.

"That's excellent news," said Sedaris, his lips curved into a smile. "Now I can sleep easily... I have a message to deliver tomorrow."

O-O-O

Another exciting chapter in the books! Poor Cleo, and poor Sanza, whose home-run ended up being a mere ground-rule double. But if things keep going the way they are, then Sanza, mighty Sanza, could strike out... see you next inning! Er, next chapter!


	11. Throwing Down The Gauntlet

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Teen Titans. If I did, this would be on TV and not here.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This doesn't take place in the same storyline as my "Forced Base" and "Fractured Heart" stories, so forget those when you're reading this. Also, about Sanza/Red X: When he's wearing the mask, he's Red X. When he's not, he's Sanza. Simple as that.

SECOND AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a sequel to "The Life and Times of Red X", which is in my profile. Read that before you read this. Also, this fic COMPLETELY IGNORES the events of the fifth season (with the exception of "Go"). For the purposes of this fic, "Things Change" NEVER HAPPENED.

O-O-O

Every moment of the twelve mile trip from the Salazars' apartment to the Laredo processing building outside of Jump City was horrifying for Cleo, who was completely helpless as the two men sitting in her back seat directed her every move. With the knife to her throat, Cleo couldn't even turn her head to signal to other drivers on the street that she was in trouble... though the zip ties holding her wrists to the steering wheel were nearly impossible to see in the darkness, and the clear tape that had been placed over her mouth was completely invisible from the outside.

All Cleo could do was follow the instructions as best she could... though she knew that the farther away from the city she drove, the more danger she was in. Tears fell down the sides of her face nearly the entire trip, an involuntary reaction to the sheer terror that she was feeling. The men ignored Cleo's tears and occasional sobs, continuing to direct her every turn, while constantly reminding her of the danger she was in if she deviated from their instructions in any way.

After about a half-hour of driving, the men had directed Cleo to turn her vehicle onto a state highway leading east from the city.

"In a few minutes, you're gonna see a dirt road leading to the right of the highway. Get on that road and keep going until we tell you to stop."

_"These men are leading me out into the middle of nowhere..." _thought Cleo, her tear-filled eyes fixed on the road ahead of her. _"That could only mean one thing... oh, god... I'm too young to die like this..."_

Again, Cleo began to sob, and the man behind her, the one still holding the knife to her throat, let out a tiny chuckle. The man seated next to him gently nudged his partner in the side, letting him know that he should be focusing on the task at hand.

"You heard what the boss said," said the man in the rear passenger seat, his eyes narrowed under his ski mask. "Don't be goofing around."

"I know what I'm doing. Don't worry, we've only got a little more to go until we reach the plant. I'm taking this just as seriously as you are."

Cleo could barely hear the whispered voices of the men behind her, but the words that she _did _manage to pick up gave her far more questions than answers.

_"Boss? Plant? I thought these two were just a couple of rapists... what the hell are these guys talking about?" _thought Cleo, her mind racing to figure out just what she'd gotten herself into. _"This... this doesn't have anything to do with helping Sanza out today, does it?"_

Cleo's thoughts had almost caused her to miss her turn, but she managed to spot the dirt road just in time, steering the car to the right quickly enough to make the tires squeal. As she began the long drive down the dirt road that she'd been instructed to turn onto, the man behind her slammed his fist into the back of the chair, causing her to let out a muffled yelp.

"You tryin' to get the cops on us?" shouted the man behind Cleo. The proximity of the knife to Cleo's neck made her reluctant to shake her head, so she tried emoting a 'no' as well as she could through the tape over her lips. "You heard what I said, bitch. I hear sirens, and your ass is dead. We _don't _need you alive, so just remember that. When you get to a fork in the road, turn left and keep going until you reach a fence. The fence'll open and then you just keep going straight until you get inside a garage. We'll handle everything from there."

More tears stung Cleo's eyes, and she began trembling in her seat, completely baffled as to what her two captors were going to do with her once they got into the 'garage' that they spoke of. She could only take comfort in knowing that there _were _people who missed her... her parents, her friends... someone would notify the police about this, someone would know that Cleo was missing. But even if they did know... could they ever find her?

Cleo followed the men's instructions perfectly, turning and continuing along until her car reached a large, barbed-wire fence. She had pulled in front of a metal gate, and as the gate opened, she could see the man in the guard station looking right at her and smiling. _Clearly_, someone was expecting her... there were more people in on this little kidnapping than she ever thought possible.

As soon as she pulled into the garage, a large, enclosed structure that could probably fit about twenty cars the size of hers inside, the large door closed behind her, trapping her and her car inside. One of the men leaned forward and turned the key in the ignition, switching off the engine and the headlights and leaving Cleo in complete darkness. The knife was lowered from her throat, and the two men climbed out of the car. As Cleo sat in the driver's seat, her wrists tightly bound to the steering wheel, she struggled for several seconds before realizing that these bonds wouldn't be _nearly _so easily escapable as those that some of the kids she babysat used on her. The plastic flex cuffs were secured tightly enough to nearly cut off her circulation, and Cleo soon resigned herself to her situation, her head drooping in the confines of her darkened car.

A few seconds later, a bright light illuminated the garage, and Cleo could see the two men who had abducted her standing about twenty feet away, speaking with a young man who appeared to be in his mid-20s. It took a few seconds, but Cleo slowly began to recognize the man that her abductors were speaking to... she'd seen him several times in the news, standing next to his famous businessman father.

_"Is that... is that Lonnie Jarvin?" _thought Cleo, her fear briefly replaced with shock at seeing one of the richest men in Jump City looking right at her. _"What's he doing with...?"_

The young man slowly approached the car, while the two men in ski masks exited the garage through a pair of double-glass doors in the back. He walked up to Cleo's driver-side window, tapping his index finger on the glass several times to get her attention.

"Hey. Hey, girl... ya know, I really didn't think you'd be this cute..."

Lonnie opened the door and continued staring at Cleo, a lustful grin forming on his face. She recoiled in her seat as much as she could, a half-angry, half-fearful expression on her face. _Was this guy serious?_

"I'm sure we're gonna have lots of fun together over the next few hours, but first, there's something I gotta do," Lonnie said, withdrawing something from one of the pockets of his blazer. He had taken out a thick white cloth, which he normally used as a handkerchief, holding it in the palm of his right hand while using his left to pour a small amount of liquid from a bottle that he'd taken out of his other blazer pocket. Cleo could briefly see the label on the bottle, and she didn't like what she read... _chloroform!_

Before Cleo could resist, Lonnie had pressed the cloth against her nose and mouth. With her lips sealed by the tape, Cleo had to get all of her air through her nose... and after letting out just one stifled scream, she passed out, her head slumping downward against the steering wheel of the car.

Her last thoughts as she passed out were of Sanza... and whether she would regret having helped him earlier that day. Though she didn't know it at the time, Cleo was about to have that question answered for her, in a very painful fashion.

O-O-O

Maddalena Salazar woke up on the morning of her twelfth birthday with a bright smile on her face, and wide, cheerful eyes.

Less than a second later, she was screaming. Her brother was leaning over her from the side of her bed, an equally bright smile on his own face. Before he could say 'happy birthday', Maddy had curled up in her blankets and was pressed against the headboard of her bed, gasping and angrily pointing at Sanza.

"Don't _ever _scare me like that!" shouted Maddy, her finger inches away from the bridge of Sanza's nose. "That's no way to wish your sister a happy birthday and you know it!"

"Mom _told _me to come wake you up, it's ten-thirty and we're leaving for the party at noon," Sanza replied, still wearing a smile on his face. "You should be happy, it's your twelfth birthday."

"You're trying to ruin it already, you stupid _cabron_!" said Maddy, slowly climbing out of bed. She landed on her feet across from Sanza, her pink nightgown ruffled by the movements she'd been making in her sleep. "How long have you been in here staring at me?"

"Like five minutes," replied Sanza, though it had actually been less than thirty seconds. He got an immediate groan from Maddy, who walked over to her dresser and began leafing through the drawers for the outfit she wanted to wear that day. "By the way, Maddy, isn't twelve a little bit too old to be having a birthday at Chuck E. Cheese? Ya know, talking animal robots are usually designed for the amusement of five-year-olds."

Maddy said nothing to Sanza, pulling out a yellow and blue sundress and holding it out a couple of feet in front of her face. She laid it down on the bed and placed her hands on her hips, obviously waiting for Sanza to leave the room. When he continued staring at her, she rolled her eyes and began removing her nightgown.

"C'mon, get out, you pervert," said Maddy, peeking at Sanza over the pulled-up collar of her nightgown, which she'd lifted up just enough to begin displaying her panties. "...I said-"

"You're not going to take that off with me in here," replied Sanza, smirking at Maddy. With a loud sigh, she lowered her nightgown and began staring at him again.

"...what do you _want_, Sanza!" Maddy shouted, frustration clearly evident in her voice. Sanza glared at her a few seconds more before finally beginning to speak.

"I just wanted to tell you happy birthday," replied Sanza, finally starting toward his sister's door, "_without _you yelling at me. So... yeah, happy birthday."

"...whatever," replied Maddy, waiting until Sanza had left and had shut the door behind him before finally starting to change out of her nightgown once more. _"Weirdo."_

O-O-O

While it was a day of recreation and celebration for Maddy, her mother, and her brother, for the Titans it would be a race against time to try and stop the plans of the men who wished to destroy the city. Robin, the Titans' leader, had remembered well the optimal locations where one would place a seismic generator, as the hallucinations that he'd once experienced of Slade were still fresh in his mind. He'd split up the six Titans into three groups of two in order to scout out the generators' locations... Beast Boy with Terra, Cyborg with Raven, and Starfire with himself.

Last time, it had been merely a wild goose chase... but this time, the generators and the threat to the city were real. The stakes had never been higher... Jump City could be destroyed by a cataclysmic earthquake at any time.

"We have arrived at the bridge, the exact location of one of the fault lines that run under the city," said Starfire, as she and Robin walked up to a tall, grassy hill just a few dozen feet away from one of the bridge's land-based support pillars. She too remembered the experience of Robin's hallucinations, as she had been one of the people most adversely affected by his reaction. "Robin, I do not wish to doubt you, but the last time we searched for seismic generators..."

"This is different, Starfire," said Robin, walking over the crest of the hill and down toward the support pillar, keeping his eyes open and his mind focused to search for any blinking lights or pieces of metal, telltale signs that something had been planted nearby. "This time, I'm not just hallucinating... this time, what we're looking for is real."

Robin had never quite forgiven himself for the way he'd treated his friends the night of those hallucinations. He'd attacked all of them... he'd hurt Starfire, having blamed her for letting Slade escape. She accepted his apology, of course, but he still felt a twinge of guilt every time the memories of that day entered his head.

"I understand," replied Starfire, staying close to Robin as the two approached the pillar, keeping her eyes open as well. "I cannot see anything yet... perhaps it has been buried?"

"Only one way to find out," said Robin, withdrawing a spherical device from his utility belt and setting it down onto the grass. The device, made of metal painted in bright yellow and red, gave a short series of beeping noises before extending two small, metallic probes into the ground and radiating a pulse of energy outward from the probes. "This should be able to detect anything buried in the ground... we'll find out in a minute or two."

Starfire nodded, and sat down on the ground, her legs crossed, her palms clasping over her knees. Robin walked over and sat down next to her, staring off into the distance at the bridge spanning Jump City Bay.

"It is... beautiful," said Starfire, her eyes also gazing at the bridge, though her true mental focus was on Robin, and by commenting on the bridge, she was actually trying to strike up a conversation with him. "I just hope that we can stop the people who are trying to destroy this city... so that things as beautiful as that bridge can remain standing for all who wish to see it."

"We'll stop them, Starfire," said Robin, keeping his eyes on the bridge, though his hands were shifting slightly, and he was bringing one of them over to Starfire. Before he could take her hand, she took the initiative, her right hand lifting from her knee and clasping around Robin's left hand, her fingers interlocking with his. "It's just a matter of time now."

She gave a quiet nod and continued staring out at the bridge with Robin, waiting for the device he'd placed to detect the seismic generator... wherever it was.

O-O-O

Cyborg and Raven had been sent downtown to the Jump City Museum... that left the pier for Beast Boy and Terra, who weren't in too much of a hurry as they made their way out to the area. Unlike Robin, who was all business as he went out to the bridge with Starfire, neither Beast Boy nor Terra were all that concerned about finding the seismic generator, though they did realize the seriousness of the situation.

"They just repaired this place a few months ago..." said Beast Boy, noticing the spot on the wooden pier that had been patched up after having been wrecked by having the Fireball ride thrown onto into by Cinderblock. "We fought a couple of Slade's minions here and they really trashed the whole pier, but fortunately we managed to take 'em out before anybody got hurt."

"Was that... was that when Slade was going after Red X?" asked Terra. She and Beast Boy walked over to an area of benches and sat down at one of them so that they could talk a little bit more.

"Yeah... I think I mighta told you about that... or maybe _he _did... I'm not sure, X did talk to you though, right?"

"A little bit," replied Terra, still remembering what Sanza had told her about his own history with Slade. The thought of Slade took the smile off Terra's face, and she placed her elbows on the table, her chin leaning against her hands. "He... he hasn't come back like Red X, has he?"

"We... we really haven't seen Slade in a long time," said Beast Boy. As he was talking, he briefly looked out over the pier to make sure that the generator wasn't nearby... while knowing that he and Terra should probably be doing an aerial scan of the entire area. "He hasn't popped up in a few months... Robin thinks he might be the one behind this whole destruction of the city thing, but none of the others think so."

Terra let out a sigh, knowing that anyone who was trying to destroy the city couldn't be good news, whether they were Slade or not.

"Hey... I know what'll cheer you up," said Beast Boy, pointing at a nearby cotton candy stand that was open for business. "I'll buy you some cotton candy..."

"Thanks, Beast Boy, but I'm fine... really, I am," replied Terra, standing up from the table and scanning the pier area. She looked over the entire carnival, past the rides and the people and the food carts, before looking under the pier at the pillars and the rocks underneath them. Out in the distance, she could detect a faint red blinking... and a glimmer of light, shining off of the surface of what appeared to be a metallic object. "I think I spotted it! C'mon!"

Terra leapt into the air and levitated a nearby rock under her feet, pulling Beast Boy onto the rock and quickly flying out to the spot where she'd seen the blinking light.

"That was pretty quick," said Beast Boy, following Terra's gaze out toward the rocks underneath the pier and spotting the same blinking light and shining metal that Terra had seen. "I see it too!"

The rock stopped just a few feet away from the object, levitating underneath the pier and over the shallow waters below. Terra could see the object clearly now, a metallic disk about three feet wide, seemingly embedded into the rock face. A small red light on top of the disk was blinking every couple of seconds.

"I bet I could take that thing out," said Beast Boy, rubbing his hands together. "Just lemme turn into a gorilla, and-"

"That's not a good idea," replied Terra, pointing at the metallic disk. "It's wired directly into the fault line... I can sense that if we try to take it out, it'll trigger the quake... we need to try and figure out where it's getting its signal from."

Terra's words worried Beast Boy, who knew that his fellow Titans probably didn't know about the object's properties, and may try to destroy one of the generators should they happen to come across it. Almost immediately, he began to take his communicator off his belt... only to hear it start to ring. He and Terra both took out their communicators at once, flipping them open to see Robin's face.

"Star and I found one of the generators," said Robin. "It's underground right where I said it would be. It's transmitting a signal somewhere, but I don't know where... and-"

"Don't touch it!" said Terra, a worried look on her face.

"I know, it's set to go off if we try to interfere with its operation," said Robin. "Raven and Cyborg just commed in... they found one of the generators too. We're going back to the Tower to try and triangulate a signal... as soon as we find one, we'll be able to stop these things at the source. Robin out."

The communicator flashed off, and Beast Boy and Terra both looked at one another at the same time.

"It looks like this problem might be worse than we thought..." said Terra, cautiously rubbing the back of her head. "Those guys that wanted to use me are already set up to try something else..."

"Yeah... but we're gonna stop them this time," said Beast Boy, a smile on his face. "Once and for all."

Terra nodded, and began to steer the rock that she and Beast Boy were standing on back toward Titans Tower. Both of them knew that saving the city was just a matter of finding the source of the generators' signal and taking out whatever machine had been built to transmit that signal. The thing that they _didn't _know was just how long they had... and time was rapidly running out.

O-O-O

A large stack of colorfully-wrapped presents sat on the kitchen table of the Salazars' apartment. Among the presents was the large book that Sanza had bought at the store the previous night with the help of Cleo's ten-dollar-bill. All of the others had been purchased by Maria, who delegated Sanza to carrying out the gifts as the family made its way to Maria's red convertible.

"You need any help?" asked Maria, who had her own hands full with Maddy's birthday cake, but was ready to assist Sanza with at least two of Maddy's eight gifts. "You can slide a couple of those onto the top of the cake box if you want..."

"Nope, nope, I've got it," said Sanza, though from the strain in his voice, it was clear that he was struggling to keep the tall stack of presents balanced.

"Sanza, if you break any of those..." Maddy began, admonishing Sanza as the three of them cleared the fire escape and walked over to the car. The girl popped open the car's trunk, allowing Sanza to begin piling the gifts inside. Once all the boxes were in the trunk, Maddy closed the lid and slid into the front seat next to her mother. "Since I'm the birthday girl, I get to ride in the front."

"I don't have a problem with that," said Sanza, slumping into his seat and putting on his safety belt. He rolled his eyes as his mother started up the car, mentally preparing himself for several hours of having to deal with Maddy's friends. _"This is going to be an ugly, ugly day... maybe I should've asked Cleo to show up... she'd be great help in keeping all those giggling girls away from me."_

Sanza had no idea of the predicament that Cleo was in... and as the family drove away, none of them heard the phone in the kitchen begin to ring. After several rings, the answering machine automatically turned on.

"Hello," came the voice on the recording, belonging to Maria. "This is the Salazar residence. We're busy right now, but if you leave a message, we'll get back to you as soon as possible."

After a loud beep, another voice began to sound on the phone... that of Cleo's mother, whose voice was trembling as she spoke.

"This is Mrs. Encina, I'm Cleo's mother... my daughter didn't come home last night, she was with your son and I'm really worried... please, PLEASE call back as soon as you can..."

O-O-O

The Chuck E. Cheese's establishment was located in a large shopping center about ten miles from downtown Jump City, in one of the city's many incorporated suburbs. The shopping center's large parking lot was filled with cars, and it took nearly twenty seconds for Maria to find a parking spot close to the restaurant.

"I think this place gets busier every day..." Maria grumbled, mostly to herself. She stepped out of the car and walked around to the trunk, opening it and allowing her son to take out most of the presents. "I told Ally's mother to reserve a few tables toward the front of the restaurant, so I hope they're already there... Sanza, I'm going to give you thirty dollars to spend on tokens, you don't get any more, so don't go blowing them all in ten minutes, try to make them last, okay?"

Sanza nodded, carrying his sister's large stack of presents into the restaurant. As soon as he opened the door, his ears were slammed with a cacophony of sounds... children laughing, arcade games buzzing and beeping, and the singing of the robotic animals that inhabited the stage at the front of the restaurant. _Wonderful..._

Most of Maddy's friends had already arrived, some of them accompanied by their parents. The large group occupied four tables up front near the stage, and this was the area that Sanza maneuvered for, setting the presents onto the large stack of boxes that had already been laid out to the right of the tables.

_"There's like sixteen boxes here," _thought Sanza, rolling his eyes as he stared at the stack of presents his sister had received. _"Most I ever got for my birthday was like twelve. I guess that just means that I need to make more friends or something..."_

O-O-O

Back at Titans Tower, Robin found himself busily attempting to triangulate the signals from the three seismic generators. Normally, such a task would take only a few minutes... but someone had placed a jammer on the signals, and it was becoming increasingly difficult for him to get a lock on any of them. With Cyborg's help, he'd been able to lock down the signal of the generator at the museum... but the other two weren't staying put, and the Boy Wonder was growing increasingly frustrated.

"This is one of the most sophisticated signal jammers I've ever seen," said Cyborg, who had connected the circuitry in his arm to the Titans' main computer in an attempt to lock down the signal frequency. "It's changing frequency every three-thousandths of a second, every time it seems like I've got it locked down, it changes on me again."

"Keep trying," replied Robin, his eyes focused on the screen and on his robotic teammate. "They could trigger an earthquake at any time..."

Watching the two of them from the back of the main room, Starfire knew quite well how frustrated Robin got when he couldn't accomplish something... and stayed in the room to serve as a calming presence should the Titans' leader happen to lose his cool. It hadn't happened yet, but she knew that the possibility was always there.

"Robin... perhaps I could be of some assistance... I am not as skilled with computers as Cyborg is, but-"

"Maybe you _could _help, Starfire," said Robin, turning to her and pointing at the computer. "Cyborg can only work on finding one signal at a time... if you can work on the second signal, we may be able to get this done twice as quickly. I know you can't interface with the computer like Cyborg can, but your reaction time is just as fast, if not faster than his. Try to narrow down the field of possible frequencies by scanning every one we find and eliminating it, the more we narrow down the field, the better chance we'll have of locking onto something."

Starfire nodded, and walked over to the computer, pulling up a chair and sitting down in front of a keyboard that slowly slid out of the console. She gazed up at the screen and took note of every frequency she saw, her fingers rapidly working away at the keyboard.

"Thank you for giving me a chance to help... I promise, I will not let you down..."

"I know you won't, Starfire..." said Robin, placing his hand on her shoulder and smiling as he leaned forward to look into her eyes. She smiled back, glad to see Robin in such a good mood. "Just take your time... we'll get this, I'm sure of it..."

O-O-O

While Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg were downstairs in the main room, hastily attempting to locate the source of the seismic generators' signal, Terra and Beast Boy were in the former's bedroom, sitting next to one another on Terra's bed, their legs dangling off the side. In Terra's hands was the metallic, heart-shaped mirror box that Beast Boy had made for her just before she'd betrayed the team. It was simultaneously a painful reminder of her betrayal and a wonderful reminder of Beast Boy's love... she hoped, that in time, the painful memories of all the bad things she'd done to her friends would fade from her mind. It was moments like these, where she could be alone with Beast Boy, that helped to heal all the wounds of her past.

"I guess I should start putting things in here, huh?" asked Terra, looking at Beast Boy and smiling.

"You can do whatever you want with it, Terra... it's all yours, remember?"

"Yeah... but still, it _is _a box. I was thinking maybe I could put stuff like makeup in here... not that I ever wear any, but... I mean, the mirror and everything, it kinda screams 'makeup box'."

"You could put some springy snakes in it and give it to Raven for her birthday," said Beast Boy, "and when she opens the box..."

The thought of Raven falling victim to such a juvenile prank made Terra giggle, putting one hand over her mouth and another over her stomach.

"That would be _great_! But I don't know if she'd let me have the box back afterward... she'd probably destroy it or something."

"Yeah, better not... besides, scary stuff like that works better on Cyborg anyway," said Beast Boy, rocking back and forth a few times before rocking forward just a little too much and falling face first off of the bed.

"Oh my gosh, are you okay?" asked Terra, though even louder giggles. She helped Beast Boy back onto the bed, cheking briefly to make sure he didn't have any bumps before continuing to speak. "Be careful next time..."

It had only been three and a half days since Terra had returned to the team, but already, a sense of normalcy had made its wake back into Beast Boy's mind. Terra was a Teen Titan again... and this time, it would be for good. No running away, no betrayal... she was back in Titans Tower, where she belonged. Beast Boy wouldn't have it any other way... the past few days had been some of the best of his entire life, even though the Titans had been so busy recently.

"Terra... when all of this is over, this whole business with the city being threatened and all, do you wanna... ya know, go out and do something?"

"You mean another date?" asked Terra, causing Beast Boy to blush and give a slow nod. "Sure, Beast Boy... heck, I'd go out right now, but Robin told us to be on standby, so..."

For Terra, the sense of normalcy hadn't returned so quickly... and she still wasn't entirely sure whether Titans Tower was the right place for her. Sure, Beast Boy trusted her, and she knew that she would always have his friendship... but the others might still resent her. She knew that, and it made her uncomfortable to think about. It would be at least a week or two before she'd be entirely sure about what she really wanted to do... but for now, she _was _happy, mostly because of Beast Boy and everything he'd done to make her feel comfortable and welcome.

"Beast Boy... I just want to thank you again for everything you've done for me since I came back to the team..." said Terra, a smile on her face. She leaned in slightly, and Beast Boy turned toward her, leaning forward as well.

"Anything... anything for you, Terra..." replied Beast Boy. "I... I'm just glad you're back... I hope you're happy here, that's all I really-"

Terra's lips touched Beast Boy's, cutting him off in mid-sentence. At the same time, the door to Terra's room slid open, and Raven stood in the doorway. Her voice stopped the kiss, which had lasted just one second, almost immediately.

"I need to see Beast Boy in the hallway... just for a second."

"Um... okay," said Terra, allowing Beast Boy to slide off the bed. "What about me, do you-"

"Just Beast Boy," replied Raven, looking into his eyes as she spoke. He was reluctant to leave Terra's side, but did so anyway, stepping out into the hall with Raven and allowing the door to slide shut behind them. "We need to talk."

"Is it about Terra?" asked Beast Boy almost immediately, a worried look on his face. He knew that Raven had been skeptical about allowing Terra to remain on the team, and wondered if she still held her old animosity for the blonde geomancer. "I know she might be a bit nervous, but-"

"I just wanted to ask how she's been lately," said Raven. "I told you yesterday that you should probably speak with her... she's talking to you now, so I assume she's better than she was."

"Yeah... she's doing just fine, Raven..."

Raven wasn't so sure, and she could tell from Beast Boy's tone that something was still wrong.

"I know she's got much better control of her powers now, but she's still got a lot of the old insecurity that made her such an easy target for Slade last time. She's not going to betray us again, but I'm just worried that she might not be able to mentally handle being a Teen Titan for a while."

Raven's concerns were valid... but Beast Boy had seen Terra over the past few days, and she was fighting extremely well, right back in her old form again. She still had emotional issues, but she was making a concerted effort to conquer them.

"I'll keep talking to her," said Beast Boy, slowly turning back toward the door to Terra's room. "It's like you said, she needs someone to be there for her... and I'm that someone."

Raven said nothing, just continued to gaze at Beast Boy, who was still standing in front of Terra's door. Beast Boy started to open it up, when finally, Raven began to speak again.

"I'll talk to her too... if she wants," said Raven, her arms crossed in front of her chest. "We _all _have to be there for her... just tell me if she wants to speak to me."

"I will, Raven," Beast Boy replied, briefly turning his head back toward Raven. "Thanks."

The door opened, and Beast Boy walked inside, the door quickly closing behind him. Raven continued staring at the door for several more seconds before slowly walking back down the hallway toward her own room. She could sense the waves of emotion coming from Terra's mind, and knew that they hadn't changed all that much from when the girl had first been revived, just a few days earlier. She seemed happier, and maybe she _was_, at least a bit, but the insecurity, guilt, and fear inside Terra were still there... and they weren't going to go away any time soon.

_"I know you care about her, Beast Boy," _thought Raven, placing her hand on the panel that sat on the wall next to her room's entrance. _"And I know she needs someone to talk to right now, but... I just don't want to see you get hurt again... not like last time..."_

And it wasn't just Beast Boy who'd been hurt by Terra's betrayal... Raven had been hurt as well... Terra was _her _friend too, and it tore at her heart when she had learned that Terra had betrayed the team. Terra might not betray the Titans again, but if she left, Raven knew that Beast Boy would be devastated.

_"All I'm saying is to be careful, Beast Boy... and take good care of her."_

O-O-O

Sanza had eaten his pizza in a record amount of time so that he could return to the arcade and be as far away from Maddy and her friends as possible. With more than a hundred tokens jangling in his pocket, he was more than well-equipped to keep himself occupied until it was time to leave.

"Let's see... should I play _Ultimate Sniper Attack 7_, or _Universal Martial Arts Champion 5_?" Sanza mused to himself, staring at a large row of game machines. It was then that his mother's call jarred him out of the decision-making process, returning his attention to the group of tables near the stage.

"Sanza, Maddy's opening your gift, come watch her!" shouted Maria, waving her arms up in the air to get her son's attention. With a long sigh, Sanza departed from the arcade machines and walked down to the tables, where Maddy's friends were watching in eager anticipation as the excited twelve-year-old tore the wrapping paper off of the box containing the book Sanza had bought for her.

"I bet he got you a really cheap gift," commented Vivian, a girl with short, red hair sitting immediately to Maddy's left at the table. "Like a candy bar or something..."

"No, this box is pretty heavy," Maddy replied, removing the Scotch tape that had been placed on the outside to seal the box. "It's not clothes, I don't think... let's see here..."

She opened the box and saw the front cover of the book. Her eyes widened, and she let out a gasp.

"Oh, this... this is that pretty book I saw at the store!" shouted Maddy, pulling the book out of the box and holding it in her arms. She looked visually excited as she began rapidly flipping through the pages, her excitement heightening with each picture she saw. "Oh wow... this is really awesome!"

"Lemme see, lemme see!" shouted Suki, one of Maddy's more eager and energetic friends, running around behind Maddy's chair and trying to look at the book over her friend's shoulder. "Wow, this is like one of the books my mom has on her coffee table..."

"I know, I know!" shouted Maddy, closing the book and setting it down on the table. She turned to Sanza and leaned up, kissing him on the cheek several times. "Thank you so much!"

It was certainly a far cry from the sour mood that Maddy had been in upon waking up, but if she was happy, then Sanza was happy... even if she had _completely _forgotten about giving him the third-degree that morning. After a quick 'you're welcome', Sanza went back to the arcade machines and resumed his play session, while Maddy began opening the remainder of her presents.

Just as she was in the middle of peeling away the wrapping paper, a loud, nasally voice began to sound from the stage. It was the restaurant's mascot, Chuck E. Cheese himself, and he was standing right at the front of the stage, his body turned toward Maddy, holding his microphone in one hand while keeping the other behind his back.

"And I'd just like to make a special happy birthday wish to little Maddy Salazar, who turns twelve today!" said the mouse robot. Maddy gave a squeal of delight and began clapping her hands, turning to her mother.

"Mom, did you tell the person at the front desk it was my birthday?" asked Maddy. Maria, who hadn't done anything of the sort, was baffled by Chuck E.'s announcement.

_"Maybe the person at the front desk overheard us and assumed, but don't you usually have to pay for something like that?" _thought Maria, scratching her head. "Um, no, I didn't, but-"

She was interrupted by the same nasally voice as the robot began to speak again.

"And now for a special announcement. Not only is today little Maddy's birthday, but it's also going to be the day of her death! How wonderful is that, folks?"

The robot then took out its other hand from behind its back... revealing an assault rifle. The gun was leveled at Maddy's head, and Maria, reacting quickly, tackled her daughter to the ground and protectively dove over her body just as the robot began to fire. Dozens of bullets blasted across the table, missing Maddy and her party guests but destroying the cake and ripping several of her presents to shreds, including the book that Sanza had given her. As the panicked patrons of the restaurant began to dive for cover, the other robotic animals on the stage also turned toward Maddy, their eyes glowing bright red.

"Holy shit!" shouted Sanza, turning away from his game and down toward the stage area, from which dozens of people, including several of Maddy's party guests, were running. Maddy and Maria themselves had ducked under a table, and were now being fired upon by Chuck E.'s robotic friends, who were armed with powerful handguns. Only a few of Maddy's friends had remained, and all of them were in serious danger. _"What in the hell is going on here?"_

Though terrified for his own safety, Sanza ran out of the arcade and leapt over a wooden divider wall into the stage area, nearly plowing over two of Maddy's friends as they made their escape. He dove underneath the table with his mother and sister, watching in horror as the five animatronic creatures on stage began making their way down toward the tables. They had exhausted the ammunition from their guns, but their robotic limbs were no less lethal, and they began casually tossing away tables and chairs in their hunt for Maddy and her mother.

"Mom, sis, let's get out of here!" shouted Sanza, pointing at the five animal robots, led by Chuck E. Cheese himself, getting closer and closer to the table that he and his family were crouched under. Maria shook her head, pointing at another of the robotic creatures who was blocking off the exit to the arcade.

"You might be athletic enough to jump that guard wall, but your sister and I aren't," said Maria. "Go out and try to get some help... the manager and the workers have left, see if you can find someone at another store, a security guard or something-"

"I'm not leaving without you guys, and you know that!" shouted Sanza, turning to Maddy, who was already shaking terribly, her fists clenched protectively in front of her.

"I... I'll be fine... really, I-"

"I'll help her get over the wall," said Bradley, who had stayed behind with two of Maddy's other friends, and was gesturing for the girl to come out from under the table. "C'mon, Maddy... your mom's gonna be just fine..."

"I... I don't know..." Maddy said timidly, looking over at her mother, who was frantically nodding her head.

"Go with him!" Maria shouted. "Your brother and I will be fine! Sanza, as soon as they leave-"

The table was suddenly ripped out from over them and thrown violently onto the stage. Standing over Maddy, Maria, and Sanza was an anthropomorphic elephant, its robotic arms raised high in the air. Maddy let out a scream, while Sanza struck at the robot's knees with a mighty kick, knocking its legs out from under it and causing it to crumple to the ground, sparking profusely. At that moment, Bradley grabbed Maddy by the wrist and rushed over to the divider wall separating the arcade from the stage area. Vivian and Suki followed, and while they attempted to scale the wall together, Maria picked up a knife from the floor and faced down the three robotic animals coming toward her, a fierce look on her face.

"Sanza, I am not gonna tell you again, go get help!" screamed Maria, taking a step toward the three robots and clenching her left fist. "And as for you, you creepy animal bastards... you come and get me! NOW!"

As the knife-wielding Maria launched into a tirade of angry Spanish directed toward the homicidal Chuck E. Cheese and his two cohorts, Sanza turned his attention to the large bear robot guarding the exit to the stage area. The bear let out a roar and swiped its metallic claw at Sanza, who ducked and rammed his shoulder into the robot's chest, gaining only a bruised shoulder for his trouble.

_"That's not gonna work..." _thought Sanza, grimacing as he took a step backward. The bear began lumbering toward him, repeatedly swiping its claws at his face. _"Okay, at least this guy is predictable..."_

After the bear had taken a few more steps forward, Sanza ran as quickly as he could, around the side of the bear and through the gap between it and the entrance to the arcade area. By now, Maddy and her friends had made it over the dividing wall, but instead of going outside, all of them opted to duck behind the prize counter in front of the store, looking for weapons that they could use to fight the robots.

"Hey Sanza!" shouted Maddy, poking her head out from behind the counter as he ran toward the exit. "They have BB guns here! Like, lots of them! We're gonna stay and fight the robots..."

"...are you _sure _you wanna do that?" asked Sanza, looking back toward the stage area just in time to see his mother ramming a knife into Chuck E. Cheese's throat. _"Damn... I knew she had some fire in her, but... whoa." _

"I'm not leaving my mom here alone!" shouted Maddy. "Are you gonna stay and fight with us, or-"

"Mom told me to get help, that's what I'm gonna do," said Sanza, though in reality, he had other things on his mind as he ran out of the restaurant and into the parking lot. By now, the lot was deserted... everyone inside the restaurant had already left, as well as many of the people in the adjacent buildings after getting word of the commotion occurring in the Chuck E. Cheese restaurant. _"No one's here... this is better than I thought..."_

But before Sanza could take another step away from the restaurant, he heard a calm voice just a few feet to his right... and when he turned, he could see a brown-haired man, a foot taller and several years older than he. The man was wearing a well-pressed business suit and a pair of sunglasses, though Sanza could tell that the man was staring right at him.

"I suppose you're wondering why your family came under attack," said the man, a casual smirk on his face. Sanza clenched his fists tightly and turned to face the man, not intimidated in the least.

"If you're responsible for this..."

"Actually, that would be Nicholas Jarvin... AKA the security guard you tussled with a couple of nights ago. He's the world's leading expert on military software, which we managed to replace those robots' AI systems with just an hour or so ago. I can tell by the fact that you're not weeping that your mother and sister must've survived the attack... I figured they would, knowing how well you tend to protect them."

"Cut the crap, right now," said Sanza. "I wanna know who you are and what you want! Tell me!"

"My name is Alex Sedaris... you can call me Sedaris, everyone else does. I work directly for the men trying to put this city in the ground... and I'm here because you can't seem to stay out of their way."

Sanza still wasn't intimidated by Sedaris, even though he knew he was far outclassed in size. His anger gave him courage, and it was about to prompt him into a fight. He knew that after the incident in the LaredoSoft building, he'd need to watch his back... which is why he had concealed his Red X suit under his clothes before he'd gone to his sister's birthday party. After a quick check to make sure no one else was watching, he began removing his shirt... once he'd taken that off, he removed his blue jeans as well. Then, he pulled out his gloves and his mask from his pockets and put them on.

"You're making a big mistake," said Sedaris, extending his arms and popping his knuckles. "You're no match for me."

"We'll see about that," replied Red X, picking up the clothes he was just wearing and depositing them in a nearby trash can, concealing them from the view of any potential bystanders. "Now you're about to see what happens to anyone who messes with my family..."

Sedaris smiled as Red X rushed toward him. The battle was on.

The thief struck with a flurry of punches, followed by a high, spinning kick that sailed right above Sedaris' head as his opponent ducked out of the way. The punches had slammed harmlessly into Sedaris' chest, causing him little, if any pain.

"I warned you, smallfry," said Sedaris, striking Red X with a punch that sent him flying backward into a nearby light pole. The impact caused X to cry out in pain, his body slumping against the metallic pole, which nearly bent from the force of his body slamming into it. The thief quickly recovered, standing up and letting loose with a series of exploding Xs. The Xs slammed into and around Sedaris, throwing up a large explosion and a subsequent cloud of smoke. When the smoke disappeared, Sedaris was still standing... with only a few burns in his suit. The large man himself was unharmed... and was smiling.

Sedaris lunged forward with another powerful punch, this one missing Red X entirely, who was able to roll out of the way to avoid the blow. Sedaris' fist hit the lightpole and bent it in two, causing the top half to crash to the cement parking lot, throwing up sparks when its lightbulb shattered against the ground. Seeing his chance to strike, X dove to the ground and swung his leg into Sedaris' ankle. The leg sweep was successful, sending Sedaris tumbling... only to land on his right palm and somersault forward into a leaping kick that struck Red X in the jaw and knocked him back more than ten yards. As Sedaris landed deftly on his feet, Red X skidded along the hot, black pavement, landing in front of a hardware store, flat on his back. He grimaced and groaned as he picked himself up from the ground, now hearing a loud ringing in his ears. The kick to his jaw had given him a minor concussion, and he knew that he was lucky not to have any chipped teeth.

_"How is he doing that?" _thought Red X, looking across the parking lot and seeing Sedaris standing some distance away, gazing over at him. This man was stronger than any the thief had dealt with before... perhaps even stronger than Slade. He was quick, too... as quick as perhaps even Robin. _"Someone's trained him well..."_

"Well? Are you going to keep fighting, or are you just going to stand there?" shouted Sedaris, waiting for Red X to come toward him. "I can do this all day!"

Sick of waiting, Sedaris charged at Red X, who went into a fighting stance and prepared to strike with an attack of his own. As Sedaris came forward with a punch aimed down at X's head, the thief rolled out of the way, allowing the man's fist to slam headlong into the pavement, making a large crack in the ground. Quickly, X shot several binding cables at Sedaris, tightly pinning his arms to his sides before jumping backward again, putting distance between himself and his seemingly immobile opponent.

"Let's see you punch me now," Red X taunted, his arms crossed over his chest. Sedaris looked over at the thief and smiled, before flexing out his arms and bursting the metallic binding cables as if they were made out of putty. "WHAT?"

"I think you're seriously outmatched," said Sedaris, running over to the stunned thief and striking him with a powerful kick to the side, knocking him to the ground again. As Red X struggled to recover, Sedaris stomped hard on his leg, prompting another loud scream from his much smaller opponent. "It's time for you to give up."

"It's time... for you... to shut up!" said Red X, his voice strained because of the pressure being put on his leg. He pointed his palm at Sedaris and fired another exploding X, hitting him in the face at point-blank range. This _did _get a reaction from Sedaris, who stumbled back, allowing X to roll out from under his foot and get back to a vertical base once more. He pointed his hands at the ground underneath Sedaris and focused, triggering a powerful burst of electricity to engulf the ground around him. As Sedaris grimaced in pain, X then leapt forward with another kick, striking him in the nose. _"I can't stop attacking... the best defense in this fight is _definitely _a good offense."_

Sedaris continued to stumble back, and Red X didn't let off the pressure for a second. He used shuriken Xs to slice into a nearby support pillar, causing a large section of the hardware store's overhanging roof to collapse, showering debris onto Sedaris' head. He then blasted two more of the store's support pillars with Xs attached to cables coming out of his hands. He used these cables to pull the pillars toward Sedaris, which both slammed into his back at once and showered him with even more debris. More of the store's overhang was about to fall, and seeing an opportunity, Red X ran around to kick Sedaris in the side, hoping to knock him right into the path of the collapse.

As he struck out with a kick, Sedaris grabbed him by the leg and flung him backward, under the collapsing overhang. The thief let out a scream just moments before he was buried in a large pile of debris and was heard no more.

"I must say, you did put up a bit more of a fight than I expected," said Sedaris, looking down at his ripped and stained black suit. "I'm going to need a new suit now... but other than that-"

An X-shaped hole appeared in the pile of debris, and Red X leapt out through the hole, bruised but not yet beaten. He looked up into Sedaris' eyes, and it was quite clear that the thief definitely still had some fight in him.

"You're not getting rid of me that easily," shouted Red X, pointing his palms at Sedaris' chest. "But I'm about to get rid of you!"

The thief fired two small Xs at Sedaris, which expanded and turned into two large nets, both of them stretched out and ready to ensnare him. Sedaris simply smiled and allowed the nets to fall over him, before flexing out his arms and bursting them to pieces. He charged toward Red X again, who attempted to slide between his legs, only to be stopped by a powerful kick that struck him right in the chest. X flew backward and crashed through the window of the hardware store, which had already been abandoned by its many patrons. As X struggled to stand, Sedaris walked into the store and grabbed him, flinging him back out through another window.

"Unnnggh..." Red X groaned, noticing already that there were several cuts in his uniform, some of them slowly dripping blood onto the ground. It was becoming clear to the thief that he was not going to be able to put Sedaris down by force... and instead, would have to outsmart him... but right now, even that seemed like a lofty goal. _"This guy doesn't have a single weakness... he survived my bombs, he survived being buried in debris... he burst out of my binding cables in two seconds! Starfire couldn't do that in six hours!"_

Of course, Red X didn't have very much time to think... Sedaris was rapidly coming back toward him, and he didn't seem to be tiring, even a single bit.

"Like I said, we can do this as long as you want..." said Sedaris, just before launching another punch aimed at Red X's face. X dodged to the left, noticing that Sedaris' arm had continued forward, following through the entire punch before starting to pull back. In a feat of great agility, X grabbed Sedaris' outstretched arm and swung himself upward, slamming both of his feet into the man's jaw. This stunned Sedaris, giving X enough time to leap around behind him and blast him in the side with another large, metallic X. This X carried Sedaris backward for nearly thirty feet before slamming him into the side of a truck, smashing his body up against the truck's frame, while at the same time sending his head right through the window.

"Now if _that _doesn't give him whiplash for the next few days, I don't know what will..." said Red X, crouching into another fighting stance and watching as the X disappeared, leaving Sedaris leaning against the crumpled side of the truck. He began walking toward X, and sure enough, his neck had been snapped back nearly an inch... and he was staggering with every step. _"Yes! Got him good!"_

With a loud, sickening crack, Sedaris' head quickly snapped back into place. As a shocked and disgusted Red X let out an audible gasp, Sedaris ran toward him, slamming his fist right into the thief's stomach. X gasped again and doubled over, only to be punched twice more in the exact same spot.

"That should just about wrap it up," said Sedaris, watching as Red X gasped loudly for breath, before finally yanking off his mask and collapsing to one knee. As a thin stream of blood began trickling from Sanza's mouth, he clutched his stomach tightly, fighting back involuntary tears that were rapidly filling his eyes.

"I... I can't... I can't breathe..." gasped Sanza, wide-eyed and horrified as the ground began swirling beneath him. "Oh... oh god... I can't breathe..."

"It's called 'getting the wind knocked out of you', and believe me, if I _really _wanted to make it hard for you to breathe, I could've snapped your neck," replied Sedaris, his arms folded over his chest. He looked down at Sanza, who was continuing to struggle and gasp, taking nearly twenty seconds before finally being able to catch his breath. Tears were running down Sanza's cheeks... not from pain, but from panic, the body's natural response to a sudden, rapid loss of oxygen. "It would've only been fair, seeing as how you just about broke mine."

Sanza made it back to his feet and quickly put his mask back on, not bothering to wipe the blood from his lip. He had no idea why Sedaris hadn't pounced on him... he'd been completely helpless for the entire time he was trying to catch his breath, so why didn't Sedaris finish him off? He wasn't about to ask why... he was just going to make Sedaris regret giving him a chance to recover.

"This... this isn't over..." said Red X, clenching his fists and running toward Sedaris. "Do you hear me? It ISN'T OVER!"

"Suit yourself," Sedaris casually replied, dodging or blocking every single one of Red X's blows as they came in. They were slower now, with a lot less power behind them... the thief had exhausted himself, and after having had the wind knocked out of him, he was much more nervous about every move he took. After allowing X to punch or kick at him nearly two dozen times, Sedaris backhanded the thief hard across the face, knocking him backward and nearly off of his feet. "Like I said, you can fight as much as you want. I don't care."

The fight was over... Sedaris knew it, and Red X knew it, as much as he didn't want to. Fighting Sedaris was a waste of time... especially when Maria and Maddy were both still in serious danger. Still, X knew he had to fight on... he had to punish Sedaris for being part of the group who had directed the attack on his mother and sister... he wasn't about to let Sedaris get away with attacking his _familia_!

"What... do you want...?" gasped Red X, looking up into Sedaris' eyes as he struck up another, this time half-hearted battle stance. "If you didn't come to fight me, then..."

"I came to make sure you wouldn't be interfering in Project Trembling Heaven," said Sedaris, reaching up and taking off his sunglasses. He slid them into the inside pocket of his ruined jacket, while removing something else from the pocket and holding it to his chest. "You shouldn't be fighting me... instead, you should be getting your family as far away from this city as possible, because by midnight tonight, there won't be a city left."

X's eyes went wide under his mask. If Sedaris was telling the truth, then Jump City would be destroyed in just a few hours... it was happening even sooner than he'd thought!

"Why... why the hell are you telling me this?" asked Red X, quizzically looking up into Sedaris' piercing green eyes. "What makes you so sure... that I'm not going to try... and ruin your little plan?"

"As for warning you, I have my reasons," replied Sedaris, who then revealed to Red X what he was holding... a PDA. On the screen was displayed a still image of Cleo, who was gagged and bound to a chair in what appeared to be a large, empty warehouse. "And if you try to stop us, your girlfriend will die."

Red X was stunned... and angry... and scared, all at the same time. It was happening again... people close to him were being threatened again... first his family by Slade, and now the girl he loved, by this group of people trying to destroy the city. He clenched his fists, and a field of bright red electricity began surging around his body, as the Xynothium reactor flared up in sync with his emotions.

"You hurt her... and I'll kill you... I'll kill you, I'll kill your friends, and anyone working for you..."

"You leave us alone for the night, and tomorrow, you can return to what's left of your home, and we'll have dropped off Cleo, safe and sound. But if you try to interfere in any way... well, you know what will happen. Goodbye, Sanza."

And with that, Sedaris left, not saying a single word as he slowly walked out of the parking lot, placing the PDA back in the inside pocket of his jacket. Red X was tempted to go after him, but knew that fighting him was useless... and the hopelessness of the situation was too much for the thief to bear. He collapsed on his knees to the ground, he felt like crying again but he held himself back... he held back the tears and he picked himself up, walking back over to the trash can where he'd stashed his clothes and slowly putting them on again.

_"Cleo..." _thought Red X, removing his mask and gloves and placing them into the pockets of his blue jeans. It seemed like he couldn't go even a few days as Red X anymore without the people he cared about being put in danger. This is why he'd given up being Red X in the first place... because he wasn't able to protect his loved ones.

Sanza Salazar had screwed up again... and again, someone else was paying for his mistakes.

"Sanza?" said Maddy, who had emerged from Chuck E. Cheese's as soon as Sanza had started back toward the building. She was followed by Bradley, Vivian, and Suki, all of them carrying in their hands as many toys as they could carry away from the prize redemption area. "Are you all right?"

Sanza mustered up a smile and nodded, walking over to Maddy and making sure that she was all right. After seeing that she wasn't hurt, he wrapped her up in as tight of a hug as he could, knowing that even if Cleo was in danger, he could take some relief in the fact that Maddy was all right.

A few seconds later, Maria emerged into the parking lot, covered in metal scraps and pieces of fur from the robots she'd just destroyed.

"As soon as we get back from Mass tomorrow, remind me to call my lawyer and have them sue Chuck E. Cheese's asses off!" shouted Maria, an angry glare on her face. She quickly walked over and hugged both of her children, grateful that they were both safe and sound. "My poor babies..."

"We're both fine..." said Sanza, pulling away from his mother and facing out toward the parking lot, his eyes staring off into the distance and back toward downtown Jump City. _"I just hope I can say the same for Cleo..."_

O-O-O

Maria was in no mood to check the answering machine upon returning home, and Maddy and her three friends decided to venture to the ice cream shop, in order to salvage what was left of the 12-year-old's birthday. That left Sanza alone in the kitchen, and he was the one who ended up listening to the message that Cleo's mother had left. He heard the worry in her voice, and was almost tempted to call her... but what would he say if he did?

_"Hello, your daughter's been kidnapped by corrupt corporate cocksuckers? That'll go over _really _well," _thought Sanza, slowly trudging up the steps to his bedroom and walking inside. He shut the door and locked it behind him, flopping down onto his bed and burying his face in his pillow.

Almost immediately, the tears began to flow... he didn't want to cry, but what had happened that day was a nightmare... his mother and sister almost killed, Cleo being abducted... his life was coming apart around him.

"What am I going to do?" sobbed Sanza, his pained cries muffled by the pillow in his face. "GOD! HELP ME!"

His entire body shook with every sob, his pillow quickly stained with all the tears that he could cry out in five minutes... not only had he failed Cleo, but he'd failed his father again... he didn't deserve the suit, he didn't deserve this duty... every single painful memory was rapidly coming back to him. His family's abduction at the hands of Slade, and now Cleo's abduction at the hands of Sedaris and all the other men involved with that conspiracy...

And in just a few hours, Jump City would be destroyed. His mother and sister were still in danger... but if Sanza tried to do anything about it, Cleo would be killed.

_"Dammit... what the hell am I supposed to do? It's not like I'm choosing between my family and Cleo, but... even if I _do _try to stop them... that guy was almost invincible, there's no way that I could..."_

Sanza sat up in his bed, wiping the tears from his face. He was still wearing the Red X suit under his clothes... and had recovered all the energy that he'd expended during his fight with Sedaris.

_"It's not going to happen again... I'm not going to let them hurt someone I care about again..."_

Slowly, Sanza slid off his bed and began to stand... and his sad, grief-filled expression had changed into one of pure determination. He was about to teach Sedaris and all of his friends the most painful lesson that any of them would ever learn...

_"Nobody messes with the people I care about and gets away with it. I don't care what that fucker Sedaris told me... I'm going to make ALL of them pay."_

O-O-O

It had been a long day of work for the Teen Titans, who had managed to lock down two of the frequencies that the seismic generators were giving off. Now, it was down to the third and final frequency, and after a quick break to go out for dinner, the team was ready to get back to work.

"I don't know about you guys, but I think that out of all of us, I'm going to end up kicking the most butt when we finally track that place down," said Beast Boy, eagerly pounding his fist into his palm as the six Titans approached the front door of the Tower.

"Let us not make this into a competition... I am sure that we will all kick an equal amount of the butt," said Starfire. _"But actually... it will be me who will kick the most of the butt."_

"We won't be kicking _any _butt until we actually find that place," said Robin, opening the front door of the tower, "so let's get to work and lock down that final-"

When the Titans saw who was sitting on their couch, all of them let out a loud gasp. It was Red X, and in front of him on the main screen, the location of the Laredo production facility was flashing brightly. He had locked down the final frequency and had triangulated the location of the generators' signal.

"I changed my mind," said Red X, leaping over the back of the couch and landing directly in front of the Teen Titans. "I _do _want to help you guys save the city."

"...as much as I'd like to yell at you for breaking into the tower," said Robin, his gaze alternating between the thief and the screen, a look of astonishment clearly etched onto his face, "I think that now might not be the time..."

"Damn right it's not," replied Red X. "They're gonna set off a quake in the next four hours, so I suggest we get over there and kick some serious ass."

O-O-O

And so, the mission begins! X and the Titans off on another whirlwind adventure... but is Cleo going to end up paying the price for Sanza's disobedience? And can Dullahan, Sedaris, and the two Jarvins be stopped? Or will Jump City crumble to pieces when the big one strikes? It's time to give me some reviews! Otherwise, I won't post the next chapter until three days from now! ...oh, wait, that's the schedule I keep anyway. ...damn.


	12. Bitter And Broken

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Teen Titans. If I did, this would be on TV and not here. 

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This doesn't take place in the same storyline as my "Forced Base" and "Fractured Heart" stories, so forget those when you're reading this. Also, about Sanza/Red X: When he's wearing the mask, he's Red X. When he's not, he's Sanza. Simple as that.

SECOND AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a sequel to "The Life and Times of Red X", which is in my profile. Read that before you read this. Also, this fic COMPLETELY IGNORES the events of the fifth season (with the exception of "Go"). For the purposes of this fic, "Things Change" NEVER HAPPENED.

O-O-O

The LaredoSoft production facility was a large building nearly five stories high and approximately seven times the size of a football field. Built in 1999 during the height of the company's success, it was the building site for many of the large war machines that would use the company's software in their design. Built out in the wilderness nearly five miles from the Jump City metropolitan area, it was a building staffed by several thousand workers... who on this particular night were conspicuously absent. The only workers that remained were a staff of several hundred guards loyal to Sedaris and the two Jarvins.

Somewhere inside the building was the master system that controlled the signals to the three seismic generators, which had been placed throughout Jump City. This master system was heavily guarded by some of the company's most innovative and powerful weapons... so if Red X _did _defy Sedaris' warning not to interfere, he would likely meet with a swift and painful end.

Toward the south end of the factory, several men, each dressed in black sweatshirts, baggy camouflage pants, and thick black gloves, were milling about a large production room, guarding several machines that were currently producing mechanical arms and legs that were to be fitted onto an armada of military robots. The men carried high-powered assault rifles in their hands, to shoot down anyone who would be foolish enough to attempt a raid on the building.

"This is the night, you know," said one of the men, slumped against the conveyor belt of one of the machines and talking to a fellow guard, who was standing nearby. "That earthquake's gonna get activated tonight... we're all gonna make tons of money helping to rebuild."

"Yeah," replied his partner, sipping on a bottle of soda which he'd purchased from a vending machine in the other room. "I bought some tickets to an amusement park for my family... they'll be two hundred miles away. Eh, we got insurance, not like we're gonna need it after all the money this quake'll bring in."

The two men began to laugh amongst themselves, when suddenly, they heard a loud crash coming from the windows far above their heads. Before they could even look up, they were set upon by Beast Boy, who had transformed into a puma, and Starfire, her eyes open and brightly aglow. The men raised their guns, but Beast Boy's powerful claws swatted them out of the men's hands.

"You will never be allowed to profit off the suffering of others!" shouted Starfire, who blasted a Starbolt into the chests of both men, hurling them into the air and over the conveyor belt behind them.

"Azarath, metreon, zinthos!"

Elsewhere in the room, Raven had levitated a stack of robot limbs high up into the air, above the heads of three more guards. As they started to raise their weapons, two strong metal arms looped around them, bringing them all together and causing them to drop their guns.

"I don't think so," said Cyborg, collecting the men's guns and getting out of the way as the three guards were buried in a large pile of metallic arms and legs. "Robin, how's things going on your end?"

The Boy Wonder was in the thick of a battle of his own, using his bo staff to keep away the remaining two guards in the room. He twirled the staff around, knocking the guns out of both men's hands, before spinning the staff again to catch them both in the head. As the two men stumbled about disoriented, Terra floated into the room on a boulder, taking a few seconds to watch in delight as the two dizzy guards staggered around the room. She then leapt off of her boulder, which split into two halves. The two halves each slammed into a guard's chest, sending him flying into the nearest wall and knocking him out.

"This room's clear," said Robin, making one last look around to make sure there were no men still awake in the room that may be hiding in the shadows. As soon as Robin had finished speaking, the seventh of the facility's intruders stepped out into the dim light.

"The longer before I have to make my presence known, the better," replied Red X, who knew that if anyone in the building knew that he was inside, Cleo's life could be put in serious jeopardy. "I didn't think you'd need me to take those scrubs out, anyway."

The Titans and X's mission was twofold: the primary objective being, of course, to protect Jump City by preventing the terrible earthquake that the operators of the factory could cause at any time. The secondary objective, and the one nearest to Red X's heart, was to rescue Cleo, while ensuring her safety by keeping the thief largely out of sight.

"If we are going to be attempting a rescue mission at the same time that we are saving the city, then perhaps we should do the... 'splitting up'," said Starfire, just as the group had gathered in front of the large, metallic door separating the room that they were in from the rest of the building. "Three of us could go and try to find the people who are activating the seismic generators, while the other three could go to rescue Sanza's friend."

"It's Red X while the mask is on, kid," replied the thief, "and in reality, I'm not sure I like that idea... a group of three people might not be able to win a fight as easily, and I might have to show myself. That puts Cleo at risk."

"So... you just want to deactivate the weapon now and go after Cleo later?" asked Robin, puzzled that Red X wouldn't want to organize a rescue party right away. "I'm happy that you're not just thinking of yourself, but-"

"I'd actually prefer to go after Cleo first and worry about the city later, but... I don't think that's going to happen, so... you'd better hurry up and save the city."

"We'd better hurry up and quit talking," said Cyborg, easily lifting up the metallic door and gesturing out toward the long, wide hallway that led to the rest of the building. "We'll probably end up finding Cleo on the way to stopping these guys anyway... right now we'd better move!"

"Cyborg's right. Titans, go!"

And with that, Robin led his team down the hallway, with Cyborg, closely followed by Red X, bringing up the rear. It was only the beginning of a long, vital mission, and already, Red X had a bad feeling. Though he knew that with the Titans, he would have a decisive force advantage over any of the guards in the building, he still worried that something was going to go terribly wrong... and it was a feeling he couldn't shake, no matter how hard he tried. What if Cleo was already dead? What if the photo Sedaris had taken of her hadn't been from today, but from yesterday, when she'd apparently been taken?

"_I can't focus on the negatives now... I've gotta make these guys pay for hurting Cleo, just like I made Slade and Sorel pay for hurting my family."_

The thief soon picked up his pace, overtaking Cyborg and Raven and running right alongside Terra and Beast Boy in the middle of the group. As he ran with them, he could see Beast Boy's head turning toward him.

"Don't worry..." said Beast Boy, a confident smile portrayed on his lips. "We're gonna save Cleo... helping people in trouble is what we do."

Terra said nothing, continuing to look forward as she and the rest of the team ran down the long corridor. For her, this mission was a test... a test to see if she was truly worthy of saving Jump City, if she was truly worthy of being on the team. She knew that most of the Titans, especially Raven, still didn't fully trust her... but if the Titans were successful in this mission, maybe Terra could once again return to a sense of normalcy and belonging.

The Titans and X continued to run until they reached the end of the hall... they could no longer go straight, but a long hallway stretching to the left and right lay out in front of them. A sign on the wall facing them had two arrows posted on it, one pointing to the left and one to the right.

"All right, team, which way?" asked Robin, staring up at the sign. "Main Production 1 or Main Production 2?"

Neither one of the signs gave Robin any indication that they would lead to either the main systems control or to the hostage. With so much at stake, and with the signs not giving him any clues at all, Robin made the only decision that he could.

"All right, we'll split up. Starfire and Cyborg, you come with me to the left. Beast Boy, Terra, Raven... to the right."

Robin left the thief to his own devices... as a non-member, he wasn't bound to follow the Boy Wonder's decisions, and even if he _was _part of the team, Robin knew that Red X would never obey any orders that he was given. Without a moment's hesitation, X followed Beast Boy, Terra, and Raven to the right, toward Main Production 2. In making his decision, X had to factor in that Raven's darkness-oriented powers might do a better job in keeping him concealed than if he'd gone with Starfire and Cyborg, who routinely threw around energy blasts that could light up a whole room.

The three _not _traveling with Red X made their way to the left as quickly as they could, immediately running up against a contingent of guards who'd just emerged from a side room. There were three guards in all, and though Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg held no sufficient numerical advantages over them, their superhuman abilities enabled them to take out the guards in mere seconds.

"This way," shouted Robin, as soon as the guards had been rendered unconscious. He led Starfire and Cyborg around a corner and into an enormous, wide-open area with a metallic balcony framing the entire perimeter of the room. When he looked up, he could see four more balconies, each one higher than the last. The room itself was mostly empty, save for what appeared to be an empty reception desk toward the right side of the room. To the group's left were several glass doors. "This room is..."

"The lobby," said Cyborg, walking toward the center of the room and gazing up toward the four balconies. "We could reach anywhere in the building from this room..."

Starfire's focus was on an elevator to the right side of the reception desk. On the other side of the desk was another elevator, and both of them appeared to be in proper working order.

"Perhaps the people controlling the signal for the generators are on the top floor?" remarked Starfire, pointing toward the elevator. Robin and Cyborg looked over at the elevator, and began to suspect the same thing. Any signal would likely be stronger the closest it was to the top of the building... so the people that the Titans were looking for were probably located on the fifth floor.

"Good work, Starfire," said Robin, walking over to the elevator. Cyborg and Starfire followed, the latter having a smile on her face from Robin's small display of encouragement.

"_I was merely following what I believed to be logical... but I do cherish any good words that Robin has for me," _thought Starfire, standing patiently alongside Cyborg as Robin pressed the elevator's 'up' button and waited for the door to open.

O-O-O

While the group of three waited in the lobby, the group of four had made an almost immediate detour after Beast Boy found a flight of stairs and went up to the second floor before anyone could stop him. Both Raven and Red X had wanted to explore the first floor a bit more thoroughly, but before they could say anything, Beast Boy and Terra had made the ascent.

They emerged in another hallway similar to the one from which they'd just came. The hallway was long and wide, with a grated metallic door on each side every thirty feet or so. It seemed that every room on the second floor was a miniature factory, each one responsible for producing a different kind of military hardware.

"There's nothing here," said Red X, lifting up one of the metallic flaps and briefly looking underneath to inspect the contents of the room. "They're making guns in there... big guns. No signal controller, and no Cleo."

"I know there's _something _up here," said Beast Boy, stopping in front of another of the metal gates and transforming into a gorilla, _"and I'm going to find it."_

"Suit yourself, Red X replied, following Beast Boy as he lifted up each of the gates, looking into the rooms, each of which was producing a different piece of military hardware. As the green gorilla and the thief continued their search, Raven and Terra lagged behind, walking side-by-side down the center of the hallway.

Raven could sense a constant, underlying emotional vibe from Terra... it was faint, but it was there nonetheless.

"Don't be nervous about this," said Raven, looking over at Terra and calmly offering her advice. "You're a part of this team again... just remember the mission and you'll be fine."

"Look, I know that you still don't fully trust me... and you're perfectly right not to, after everything I did..." replied Terra, her hands clasped in front of her just below her waist. "I'm going to do the best I can, Raven."

"It's not just you I'm worried about... it's Beast Boy," said Raven, briefly glancing over at her changeling teammate as he opened up yet another room on the left side of the hallway. "He feels very strongly about you... I don't think he's entirely sure that you're going to be okay."

"That makes two of us," said Terra quietly. Beast Boy had detransformed in front of the most-recently opened room, and was standing alongside Red X, the both of them focusing their attention on its contents. "Hey, what's in there? Did you find anything?"

Inside the room were twenty large vehicles that resembled RVs, only three times bigger. They were painted bright yellow and bore the LaredoSoft company logo on their sides.

"Those things are the coolest cars I've ever seen," said Beast Boy, an awed expression on his face.

"They're mobile command centers," replied Red X, walking into the room and carefully inspecting the front of one of the vehicles. "They get sent out to areas where disasters have struck."

"I remember seeing one of those a couple years ago..." said Terra, a slightly sedated tone in her voice. "At one of the mudslides that I... I accidentally caused..."

"Somebody's expecting something a lot bigger than a mudslide," said Red X, slapping his hand across the front window of the vehicle. "After the earthquake, they're gonna roll these things out all over the city."

The vehicles, which cost about a quarter of a million each to produce, would be sold to Jump City officials at a price of tens of millions of dollars each after the earthquake. The sale of such vehicles alone would net hundreds of millions of dollars in profit for Nicholas Jarvin's company... just one of the way that he and his fellow conspirators would profit off of Jump City's destruction.

"There's nothing to see on this floor," said Raven, "unless you want to steal one of these vehicles."

Raven's remark netted a smile from Red X that, because of his mask, the blue-cloaked goth wasn't able to see. X shook his head and exited the room, followed by Raven, Terra, and eventually, Beast Boy. The group bypassed the rest of the room's in the hallway, beginning their search for the third floor of the building. All four of them knew that time was rapidly running out.

O-O-O

The elevator opened on the fifth floor, and Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg stepped out into a large carpeted room filled with reflective glass panels mounted on small wooden pedestals. The decorative glass structures reflected the Titans' images in a slightly distorted fashion, giving the beautiful executive lobby a slightly eerie appearance. The lobby contained three doors, one which led to a series of offices, and another that led to a pair of restrooms.

"Guess we'd better go in this one," said Cyborg, opening the door at the back of the lobby and revealing yet another corridor leading straight ahead. "This building's really big, but we've still gotta be close to the people running this place..."

"I agree," replied Robin, stepping out into the hallway with Cyborg and Starfire. As the three began to walk, their steps echoing slightly in the wide, empty corridor, all three of them could hear a faster series of steps off in the distance, making a metallic skittering noise that sounded as if it was being originated by someone wearing tap shoes. _"That's strange to hear..."_

The noise was slowly becoming louder and louder, and when the Titans reached an intersecting hallway, they could clearly discern that it was coming from the left, increasing in rate and intensity every second.

"There are more guards coming?" asked Starfire, her hands and eyes lighting up defensively. Whatever the noise was, it certainly didn't sound like human feet were making it... and it was continuing to get louder. "Should we attempt to flee, or-"

"Let's go into one of the side rooms and see exactly what it is," said Robin, gesturing for Cyborg and Starfire to follow him to the right. The problem was, however, that there _were _no side rooms for Robin and the other Titans to duck into... only an enormous production facility, stretching out for hundreds of feet. They emerged from the hallway into this expansive room, looking up and out to see several robotic cranes lowering what appeared to be the frames of vehicles onto a conveyor belt, where they were mechanically assembled with the other parts of the vehicles and then shuffled out of the room into a large hole built into the wall. "Uh... okay, maybe not."

The three Titans turned around and left the construction area... and found themselves facing a large, robotic crab, its large claws opened in front of it. It stood nearly fifteen feet tall, with its claws nearly eight feet in diameter. It was painted dark blue, an abnormal color for a crab to be sure, but its color made it no less dangerous as it quickly skittered about on its eight metallic legs, producing series of loud, metallic noises that indicated to the Titans the exact source of the sounds they'd been hearing.

"I think we just met this place's security system," said Cyborg, his cannon arm beginning to charge up energy. The Titans had been backed into the factory, but they certainly had a lot of space with which to retreat... though none of them believed that they would need any of it.

The eyes on top of the mechanical crab's head began to light up with a bright orange glow, and less than a second later, two powerful lasers were projected from its eyes and straight toward the three Titans. Starfire, closest to the laser blasts, easily dodged them and flew above the robot, launching a flurry of Starbolts at the heavily-armored top of its head. The Starbolts collided with the crab robot and exploded, causing little, if any damage.

"Robin, it is impervious to my-" was all that Starfire was able to say before the crab's left claw came down hard on the top of her head, knocking her to the ground and immediately rendering her unconscious. With a cry of rage, Robin leapt at the robotic creature and swatted it several times with his bo staff, having little effect. He leapt out of the way of another blast of laser fire, then withdrew a small explosive device from his belt and hurled it toward the robot's eyes. Another burst of laser fire destroyed the Birdbombs, prematurely detonating them before they could make impact.

"From one robot to another, I ain't messin' around!" shouted Cyborg, repeatedly firing blasts from his energy cannon at the crab's numerous legs. Like the top of the robot, which had managed to avoid damage from Starfire's energy bolts, the legs were armored and sustained little damage from Cyborg's blasts. "Looks like I'll have to try a different approach..."

He ran up to the crab robot and began pulling at its legs, attempting to tear them from the main structure with little success. It wasn't long before the crab robot realized what Cyborg was doing and swatted him away with one of its claws, just as it had done to Starfire. Cyborg managed to stay on his feet, and was soon making another attack, this time coordinating with Robin.

While Robin used his bo staff to pole vault himself on top of the robot's head, Cyborg had fired his sonic disruption cannon toward the robot's legs. This caused the robot to wobble, and kept the eye lasers that it was firing at Robin from being accurate, with each blast missing the Boy Wonder entirely.

"Thanks for keeping its blasts away," said Robin, holding another of his bombs in hand, this one designed to cover the crab's eyes in goo and render its laser fire completely ineffective. _"Now to take out one of its weapons... right now!"_

But before Robin could throw the bomb, a laser blast struck him directly in the chest, knocking him completely off of the robot's head and sending him plummeting toward the ground. A brief look around revealed that Cyborg was no longer there to disrupt the robot's aim... and that brief look was all that Robin got, because just a second later, all he could see was complete darkness.

The robot had closed one of its claws around Robin, trapping him completely. Cyborg was trapped in the other claw, while Starfire was just waking up from having been knocked down earlier, her head throbbing in pain.

"Unnnggh... Robin? Cyborg?" Starfire said, quickly noticing the absence of her friends and the fact that the giant crab robot was still standing right in front of her. "Where could they possibly have gone?"

Inside each of the confined spaces of the crab robot's powerful claws, a desperate struggle was taking place... while Robin was attempting to use his staff to pry his way out, Cyborg was trying to blast his way out, and neither of them were having any sort of immediate success. Starfire could hear the sounds of commotion from inside the claws, but before she could attempt to free her friends, both claws were brought rapidly toward her, in an attempt to smash her completely. She extended her arms and stopped both of them, and was soon locked in a struggle to keep them from closing in any further. She held her palms out against the sides of the claws, nearly losing her footing as sweat started to pour down her face.

"_I... have to... help... Cyborg... and Robin!" _thought Starfire, a pained expression on her face as she struggled to hold back the claws of the crab robot. _"I just have to focus!"_

O-O-O

Elsewhere on the fifth floor, in a glass-windowed office overlooking a wide, empty space, Nicholas Jarvin was observing the battle of strength between Starfire and the crab robot on one of his many security monitors.

"Cancer Beta is performing much better than I'd expected," said Jarvin Sr., a smile showing on his face. "Certainly an improvement over the last guard robot I created..."

With just a small amount of production to be completed, the elder Jarvin was just about ready to activate the trigger signal for the three seismic generators. After the last few vehicles had rolled off the assembly line, he would finally be able to set in motion the events that would lead to the destruction of Jump City... and to trillions of dollars in profit.

"I should've known that even if Red X wouldn't try to stop me, the Titans would... but I planned ahead for _that _little possibility."

On another of the monitors was a visual display of the large, dark storage room in which Cleo was currently being held. He'd seen his son enter and exit that particular room several times over the course of the day... knowing exactly what the younger Jarvin had been doing.

"_For some, the rewards are different than others... for me, the only motivation is money and power. I'm sure that my associate Mr. Dullahan and his headstrong bodyguard feel the same way... and in just a short while, we'll have all the money and power that we could ever want. And it's all thanks to my brilliant efforts..."_

O-O-O

Starfire continued to strain against the immense force of the claws attempting to crush her. A searing pain had begun to shoot through her arms, and she knew that her strength was giving out... but she wasn't going to quit, not when her friends' lives were at stake. She could hear her friends' voices from inside the claws... muffled as they were, she could still discern that Robin was in the claw to her right, and Cyborg was in the claw to her left.

"_Perhaps _this _will help..." _said Starfire, concentrating just enough to fire her eye lasers at the joint connecting the robot's left claw to its body. The force of the blast wasn't enough to sever the robot's arm, but it did manage to force the arm to the side, and its claw opened, spilling an exhausted Robin out onto the floor. The other claw lifted high into the air and swatted downward at Starfire, who rolled out of the way and fell to her knees at Robin's side. "Robin, are you-"

The pair's reunion was interrupted by a loud explosion, followed by the sound of metallic boots hitting the floor. Cyborg had finally managed to blast himself out of captivity, and for the first time, the crab robot had begun to show signs of vulnerability, both of its arms smoking as it stumbled back into the hallway.

"I was starting to run out of air in that thing!" shouted Cyborg, gasping slightly as he spoke.

"I am just glad that both of you are safe..." said Starfire, glancing over her shoulder to see the crab robot slowly skittering back toward them. "But we still have work to complete..."

With a nod of his head, Robin extended his bo staff again and faced down the robot, with Starfire and Cyborg flanking him on either side.

"Titans, go!" shouted Robin, just as the crab's claws came down upon the Titans once more. Starfire and Cyborg leapt out of the way, bombarding the robot with energy blasts while Robin vaulted onto its head once more and did a flying leap, straight toward the robot's lit-up orange eyes. Before it could fire its lasers, Robin's feet slammed into the glass eyes and shattered them instantly, causing a minor explosion and sending out a huge shower of sparks. He then somersaulted behind the robot and fired his grappling cables at its legs.

"Perhaps if our blasts cannot damage it, we will just have to use our strength!" said Starfire, gesturing for Cyborg to follow her toward the back of the robot, where Robin was standing. As the robot came to a stop and attempted to turn around, it found that its legs were far too tangled up in Robin's cables for it to do so, and the entire frame of the robotic crab began to lurch upward.

"Both of you, get under it!" said Robin, though by now, Starfire and Cyborg had already gotten the idea. They dashed through the robot's tangled legs and ran underneath its metallic underbelly, both of them pressing their arms up against its frame and pushing upward. Slowly, both of them were able to lift its huge body over their heads.

"This thing's real heavy, man, I hope you've got an idea about what to do with this thing..." said Cyborg, straining against the weight of the nearly eight-ton robotic crab.

"I know exactly what to do!" said Starfire, gesturing with her head toward one of the large conveyor belts about fifty feet away. "But it will require us both to work together... are you ready?"

Cyborg nodded, and Robin gave the order.

"On my count... one... two... three!"

The two of them tossed the huge crab robot away with all of their might, its enormous body sailing across the room under it landed on the conveyor belt between two van frames. Its legs still tangled up, it was unable to propel itself off of the belt, and within seconds, it was carried out of the room.

"That was wonderful!" shouted Starfire, wrapping her arms around Cyborg in a congratulatory hug. "Now we will no longer be bothered by that terrible blue monster..."

"Yeah... I'm kinda hoping that conveyor belt doesn't reverse direction, though," said Cyborg, slowly pulling away from Starfire and shooting a glance at the hole through which the robot had disappeared.

"Let's not stay to find out," said Robin, pointing at the hallway leading out of the large factory room. "C'mon, guys... we've still got work to do."

O-O-O

Raven, Terra, Beast Boy, and Red X's decision to use the stairs instead of the elevator to reach the top floor of the facility brought them face to face with more security guards... but none of them were any match for the three Titans and the expert thief, and the group made it to the top floor without any problems whatsoever.

They emerged into a small, carpeted room with a table in the center, directly adjancent to an enormous, expansive factory area. This area was one of the building's huge processing rooms, with conveyor belts delivering completed vehicles onto large service elevators that then took those vehicles down to storage areas elsewhere in the building.

"So this is how they got all those cars down to the second floor," said Terra, peeking through the room's glass window into the processing area. "It's all so very..."

"Efficient? Yeah, _deadly _efficient," said Red X, using one of his Xs to make a hole in the window, through which he then climbed to emerge into the processing facility. "C'mon, I'm sure we have to go through here to get to the rest of the floor, so let's hurry up."

The three Titans used the more conventional method of going through the door next to the large window. When they emerged into the processing area, they could see that one of the vans coming through on the conveyor belt wasn't a van at all... but a large blue robotic crab, its legs tangled up in thin, wiry cable.

"Is that... Robin's cables around that thing's legs?" asked Beast Boy, his finger pointing up at the crab as the conveyor belt slowly carried it across the room toward the service elevator.

"I think so," replied Terra, her eyes narrowing as she looked up at the tangled robot, wondering what it could possibly be doing on one of the room's conveyor belts... unless, of course, her fellow Titans had put it there. "Has Robin's group already been through here?"

A loud snapping noise was immediately followed by the sight of the enormous robot leaping up off of the conveyor belt and landing directly in front of the group, its impact shaking the ground and nearly knocking the four of them off their feet. Its legs generated small cracks in the concrete floor as it landed, and its sparking and smoking head clearly indicated that it had been in a battle.

"Guess Robin and the others didn't finish it off all the way," said Red X, his palms glowing bright red. "Figures that he wouldn't finish what he started..."

The thief launched a series of exploding Xs at the front of the crab's main section, creating a fireball but little else. Before he could fire again, the crab's left claw had swatted him away, and his back impacted a pillar supporting a conveyor belt.

"My turn," said Raven, her eyes beginning to glow as she used her powers to take control of the robot's legs. "Azarath, metreon, zinthos!"

Slowly, the large crab began to lift off of the ground, its metallic legs having taken on a black glow. Sensing that it was in danger of being turned over, the robot activated a panel placed in the center of its body. The panel slid away, revealing several small holes through which incendiary rockets could be fired. Beast Boy saw that Raven was directly in the line of fire, and as the first of the rockets began to deploy, he ran at her, tackling her out of the way.

"Beast Boy, I was trying to-"

Raven's protests were cut off by the sound of an explosion, just as the rockets slammed into the ground next to Beast Boy and herself, generating a huge fireball that reached clear up to the ceiling of the room. Her eyes widened as she realized what her green teammate had just saved her from.

"_Definitely should be more careful next time..." _thought Raven, raising her cloak over her face to shield herself from the smoke that the explosion had generated. Meanwhile, Terra, realizing that the ground was concrete, used her powers to lift up a huge chunk of the floor underneath the robot and rapidly levitate the metallic crab into the air.

"I think I'll put you right through the floor," said Terra, who then tried to flip the concrete chunk over, only to have the robot leap up off of it and position its body directly above her head. She let out a worried scream, and Beast Boy rushed to her rescue, transforming into a gorilla and lifting his arms to catch the giant crab before it could smash Terra. "Whew..."

"_Looks like I'm saving everyone today..." _thought the exhausted Beast Boy, straining to keep the robot over his head. As his legs began to give out, he got some unexpected help as Red X used his body as a wall, leaping off of him in order to blast the crab's main body with a large, glowing net. As the robot was blasted backwards, tangled in the net, Beast Boy detransformed and began rubbing his arms, aching from the strain of having supported so much weight. "Ow... ow ow ow..."

"Beast Boy, that was amazing!" said Terra, placing her hand on Beast Boy's shoulder. "Are you all right?"

Beast Boy nodded, managing to give Terra a smile.

"Yeah, but only because _you're _all right," said Beast Boy. Terra giggled and leaned over, gently placing a kiss on her green friend's cheek. At that moment, the robot's claw smacked Beast Boy away, sending him skidding nearly twenty feet across the room. Terra let out another horrified scream.

"How the hell did you break that net so fast?" shouted Red X, watching as the robot opened one of its claws and attempted to trap Terra. She managed to get her arms up, holding its claw open, but she knew that it was only a matter of time before her strength failed and she was trapped. _"Shit, that's not good..."_

Seeing that Raven was busy with the other of the robot's claws, X leapt at Terra and attempted to knock her out of its grasp... only to miscalculate and plow into her at an awkward angle. She screamed and let up on her grip, and the robot's claw closed around both of them.

"Terra! X!" Raven was consumed with dread on seeing the crab robot's claw close around both of her partners, and again she began focusing her powers, attempting to pry the claw open so that they could both escape. As soon as the claw had begun to turn black, she found herself completely trapped in darkness as its other claw closed around her. "No!"

Outside of both of the robot's claws, Beast Boy immediately went for the one holding X and Terra, transforming into a gorilla again and attempting to pry it open. He stopped when another flurry of rockets slammed into his back, knocking him away again and causing him to let out a roar of pain.

Inside the robot's left claw, X and Terra were crammed extremely tightly inside a space that was _just _big enough to accommodate them both.

"I tried to help you, I really did," said Red X, coating the inside of the crab's claw with goo in an attempt to force it to open by expanding the liquid. "I guess I just missed by a little bit..."

"Don't talk..." gasped Terra, her eyes widening as she realized that neither of them had very much air to breathe... only enough for each of them to breath maybe a couple of times. "This space is airtight... so we have to conserve..."

"Which is precisely why I'm trying to get us both out of here," said Red X, attempting to be calm, when in reality he was quickly becoming terrified as he realized how shallow his breaths were getting. The fact that the two of them took up so much space inside the claw meant that there was very little for air to actually inhabit... he had to get the two of them out immediately. _"Please let this work..."_

The goo began to take on a dim, red glow, and for a brief moment, both X and Terra could see each other inside the otherwise complete darkness of the inside of the crab's claw... then the glow disappeared, and X realized that his plan to expand the claw wasn't going to work. His goo had dissolved completely.

"DAMMIT!" X shouted, his fists rapidly pounding the metallic interior of the claw. "Someone get us out of here! Raven, Beast Boy, get us out!"

Terra had _never _seen Red X this worked up before... he'd gone from cool and calm to frantic and fearful in just a matter of seconds... and it was doing nothing to calm her own nerves, which were also rapidly fraying.

"Sanza, you have to calm down... there's still air in here, just not very much..."

Terra's voice was trembling as she spoke, and she could feel Red X trembling beside her... their bodies both cramped so tightly together inside the closed space of the inside of the robot's claw.

"_Beast Boy..." _thought Terra, closing her eyes and taking extremely slow, shallow breaths, trying both to calm herself down and to conserve oxygen, "_please... please hurry..."_

Beast Boy and Raven were still attempting to save X and Terra, though the crab's constant barrage of attacks was keeping Raven from being able to concentrate her powers long enough to open the robot's claw.

"Beast Boy, the only way I'm going to get that thing open is if you can distract it long enough for me to concentrate. I just need a few seconds, can you do that?"

Beast Boy nodded, his worry for Terra motivating him as he transformed into an elephant and rammed hard into the robot's frame. It skittered backward before charging back equally hard, ramming its body into Beast Boy's forehead and nearly giving him a concussion. As he charged forward again, Raven pointed her hands at the left claw, which once again took on a black glow.

"_Come on, you can do this... it's strong, but you're stronger... just focus..."_

Slowly, the robot's claw came open. It opened up a few inches, then snapped shut again, the black glow disappearing. While Raven's action hadn't freed Red and Terra, it had allowed fresh air to fill the space they were inhabiting, giving them at least a minute of precious oxygen while the two Titans outside attempted to free them.

The robot charged into Beast Boy again, and this time, he lost his balance, detransforming and painfully rubbing his forehead as he fell to the floor.

"Okay, seriously, how the heck can a crab be stronger than an elephant? That violates practically every law of nature!" shouted Beast Boy, angrily staring up at his robotic foe. "Raven, did you get X and Terra out of-"

"Still trying," said Raven. The robot's panels opened again, and several more rockets shot out, each of them aimed at the cloaked half-demoness. She turned around and put up an energy shield, blocking the rockets but losing whatever progress she'd made on getting Red X and Terra free. "The attacks are coming too quickly!"

Inside the claw, Red X continued trying to free both himself and Terra, after having been told by her that the metal completely surrounding them made her terrakinetic powers useless.

"I can't dissolve the frame with my Xs..." said the thief, a slight fearful tremble still evident in his voice. "Damn... what's taking Raven and Beast Boy so long?"

"Please, just don't talk..." replied Terra. "Raven got us a little bit more air to breathe, we can't waste that."

"_She's calmer than me..." _thought Red X, _"at least from what I can tell..."_

X knew that Terra was afraid, but unlike him, she hadn't once lost her cool... even as the air present inside the confined area they were in began to get thinner and thinner. It was likely the fact that Beast Boy was trying to rescue her that gave her comfort... X knew little about their relationship, besides the fact that the two had apparently fallen in love with one another before Terra's betrayal.

"_I wonder if Cleo is as calm as Terra is? If she expects me to come save her?"_

The bad feeling that Red X had been sensing ever since he and the Titans had entered the factory was returning, stronger than ever... not only was his life in danger, but Cleo's as well. He had to escape if he ever wanted to see her again... but right now, escape for X and Terra didn't seem very likely at all... and once again, his breaths were becoming shallow.

"Terra... I'm sorry..." said Red X quietly, still trying to figure out a way to extricate the two of them from the claw. "If I'd just aimed a little better, neither of us would be in here, so..."

"It's not your fault," replied Terra. "You tried to help... if it hadn't been for you I'd still be in here, just... alone..."

It was then that Red X could feel Terra's arms wrapping around him... she was trembling just as much as he was.

"Yeah, but you'd have a lot more air to breathe," said Red X. It was then that Terra did something that he never would've expected her to do in a situation like this... she gave a giggle. A nervous giggle, but a giggle nonetheless.

"Shh..." whispered Terra, once again admonishing him to be quiet. She tried to take another breath, but could no longer feel oxygen entering her lungs, just the unpleasant warmness of carbon dioxide. _"No..."_

Light came in an instant, followed by the shattering of the metallic walls around Terra and Red X, who fell to the ground on top of one another, both of them gasping for air. Raven was standing a few feet away, also gasping, though out of exhaustion, while Beast Boy had transformed into an octopus and had placed two of his tentacles in all four of the crab robot's missile launchers.

"About... time..." gasped Red X, briefly lifting up his mask so that he could take in a few full breaths of air. Terra, her face red and completely covered in sweat, stood up and ran over to Beast Boy as soon as he detransformed, wrapping her arms tightly around his back in a warm, thankful embrace.

"Thank Raven too..." said Beast Boy, a warm smile on his face. "She's the one who blasted you guys outta there..."

"I'll thank her as soon as I kill this thing for almost suffocating me," said Red X, his eyes narrowing as he stared down the robot, skittering about with only its right claw intact. "Let's put this thing down..."

Beast Boy and Terra broke off their hug and faced the robot, while Raven and Red X stood on either side of them. The group of four quickly split off, each of them going to one side of the robot and surrounding it. Red X took the front, Raven took the back, and Beast Boy and Terra went to the left and right respectively. The robot began turning rapidly, not knowing which of the four to attack. Finally, it slid open its panel and launched four rockets, each one directed toward a different person. Raven easily blocked the rocket with an energy shield, while Terra leapt back and used a large chunk of concrete to deflect the blast. Red X formed a spherical energy ball out of one of his Xs that caught the rocket and harmlessly absorbed the explosion, and Beast Boy transformed into a snake, causing the rocket to sail over his head and hit the floor behind him.

"I've got an idea," said Terra, uplifting the concrete underneath Beast Boy to slide him gently over to her. "Don't change back yet..."

She picked up the still-serpentine Beast Boy and placed him inside one of the rocket launching holes just before the panel closed.

"What are you doing, Terra?" asked Raven, puzzled and a bit worried by Terra's plan to place him inside the robot. "That looks dangerous..."

But as soon as Beast Boy had gotten inside, he transformed himself into a mouse and began chewing on every wire that he could find, until the interior of the robot was a sparking, smoking mess.

"Great job, Beast Boy!" shouted Terra, who could see more smoke spewing from the holes in the robot's head and its left claw.

"One problem," said Raven, noticing that the panel on the robot's chest was still closed. "How is he going to get out?"

"That's where _I _come in," replied Red X, placing a single X on the robot's main body and causing the rocket panel to slide open. A second later, the small, furry Beast Boy jumped out, running over to Terra and detransforming. He coughed several times, placing his hand over his chest as he watched the huge crab stagger about, its entire body now beginning to spark.

"Was getting a little nasty in there..." coughed Beast Boy. Terra slapped him on the back a couple of times, getting all the smoke out of his lungs. "That's better."

The disabled robot stumbled forward, then backward... then forward again.

"I... think we should probably go now," said Raven, indicating the exit to the room, a large opening in the left wall that led out into the fifth-floor hallway. Beast Boy and Terra quickly dashed toward the exit, and Raven followed them, with Red X lagging a few seconds behind. He lingered near the exit, watching as more sparks and smoke engulfed the crab robot... then, finally, a large explosion turned what had once been a dangerous machine into a heap of scrap metal, scattered about the processing area. Then, he turned and left with the others, the bad feeling he had about Cleo still lingering inside of him.

O-O-O

The halls of the fifth floor were like a maze, with few rooms and even fewer signs to indicate where one should go if they were searching for a specific thing. Raven, Beast Boy, Terra, and Red X dashed through the empty corridors, not realizing that some of the areas they explored had already been covered by Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg earlier.

Red X was starting to get fed up with running around aimlessly... especially with his gut telling him that something was terribly wrong. The only rooms of any consequence that the group had managed to find were a few offices... and after a while, Beast Boy began whining that he needed to get to a restroom.

"You would _think _that in such a big building, there would be at least ONE place to go pee... I mean, do the people who work here just carry around buckets, or what?" shouted an exasperated Beast Boy, grimacing and clutching the area between his legs. "C'mon c'mon c'mon... I think we passed one a few minutes ago..."

"That's it," said Red X, turning away from the group and walking in the opposite direction. "Obviously, you guys aren't finding Cleo, or anything else, and I can't put up with Beast Boy's whining for one more goddamn minute."

"...if you want, you can X his mouth shut," remarked Raven, only half in jest.

"Wait, you can't leave!" shouted Beast Boy, ignoring Raven's comment and walking over to Red X. "I thought we were a team!"

"No," said Red X, turning around and pointing at Raven and Terra. "You, Raven, Terra, Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg are a team. I work alone. Always have, always will."

Red X then began to walk, before turning a corner to the left and making his way into an area of the building that he and the group hadn't previously explored. Beast Boy attempted to stop him, but Terra walked over and grabbed him by the shoulder, gently leading him back toward Raven.

"Let him go," said Terra, though in her mind she _was _worried about Red X, not only that he might not be able to fight off potential attackers, but that there was a higher likelyhood that the people holding Cleo would spot him. "He... he obviously has his own agenda in mind..."

"We need to hurry," replied Raven. "This building is huge, there's still a lot of ground to cover on this floor alone."

And so the three Titans left Red X to his own devices... something that Beast Boy and Terra were hoping that they wouldn't regret.

The thief's turn had taken him down another long hallway, and as he ran, he soon encountered a chance to turn left and a sign posted on the wall.

"_According to this sign, to the left are restrooms... well, Beast Boy would be happy. Straight ahead... 'Auxillary Storage'. What the hell is Auxillary Storage?"_

Red X would soon find out... after about a half minute of running, he came upon a set of metallic double doors. After pushing them open, he emerged into a large, cement-floored room with red brick walls, lit only by a few dim yellow lights dangling from the ceiling. Boxes were stacked all over the room, labeled with their contents. Inside the boxes were things that wouldn't be needed in the city's post-earthquake relief effort, things that were being put away to save space for the items that would eventually be deployed throughout the city in the coming days.

As Red X slowly walked through the room, toward another set of metallic double doors, he could faintly sense that the growing feeling of dread inside him was getting stronger and stronger. He could only hope that they hadn't detected him inside the facility... that they hadn't killed Cleo because he'd shown up.

"_Think positive, Sanza... your family was rescued unharmed, Cleo's going to be safe, too..."_

He'd become Red X to protect his loved ones... and if they were safe, his mission was successful. If not... then he was a failure, who didn't even deserve to put on the suit.

He pushed open the double doors, expecting to find another room filled with boxes... but instead, he found exactly what he was looking for.

He found Cleo.

She had been bound to a chair in the center of the room, strong, course rope encircling her wrists and tying them to the back of the chair, while rope tied around her chest secured her even more. Her legs were spread out and bound individually to the legs of the chair, the rope wrapping around and cutting into her ankles. A thick cloth was tied tightly between her lips, and the skin on her face was clearly bruised around where it had been tied. Her head drooped. She weak from lack of food, and her body was covered in bruises. She'd been beaten... but Red X didn't discover her most horrific injuries until he got up close.

"Cleo...?"

She slowly raised her head, letting out several fearful, muffled cries. As soon as her eyes met with Red X's, they began to widen, and she slowly calmed down... though tears were clearly seen to be running down the sides of her face.

"_Cleo... oh my god, I'm so sorry..." _

With gentle, trembling hands, Red X reached behind Cleo's head and undid the knot that held the cloth between her lips. It dropped into her lap, and she let out several weak sobs, her head drooping forward again.

"I'm here to... to rescue you... just... just try to stay calm..."

Red X reached behind Cleo and untied her wrists, then undid the ropes around her chest that held her arms to her sides. She continued to tremble, to sob, not saying a word or even moving from the chair as Red X untied the ropes around her ankles. Once she was freed, Cleo continued to sit in the chair, a lifeless look in her face. Red X lifted up her chin and gently looked down into her eyes before helping her up and holding her tightly to him.

"Cleo... you don't have to... to be afraid... it's all right... I'm here..."

Though he was wearing the mask, and the costume, Red X was no longer Red X... not now, in a situation like this... he was Sanza Salazar, Cleo's friend and comfort, and he was going to be there for her, no matter what. It was clear that she'd been hurt, and she leaned her head against his shoulder, just continuing to sob, not saying a single word.

Something had broken her spirit... her body was still trembling, and no matter how long Red X held onto Cleo, the trembling didn't stop.

"They... they hurt me... they hurt me..."

"_Cleo... oh god, this is my fault..." _thought Red X, tightening his grip around Cleo, his hand gently rubbing her back.

"One of them... he... he came in here, he... he..."

"Shh... Cleo... it's going to be-"

"He... he raped me...!"

The words came in a sudden gasp, almost a scream, and it took several seconds for Red X to comprehend what Cleo had just told him. Slowly, he released her and briefly looked down at her pants... the zipper had been broken, and the button at the top had fallen off. Several times during Cleo's captivity, Lonnie Jarvin had come into the room and had stolen Cleo's innocence... she'd been raped repeatedly.

"_No... no, no, no... no!"_

X's entire body began to tremble, and he shook his head, an overwhelming and crushing feeling of guilt and rage overtaking his body. He looked into Cleo's tear-filled eyes and could only imagine the horrific trauma she'd been through... and all of it being his fault. If he hadn't put on the suit, if he'd done a better job protecting Cleo...

"I'm sorry... I... I'm so sorry..."

"...no... no, you... you have nothing to apologize for..." said Cleo, her trembling hand reaching over to touch Red X's masked face. "You saved my life... you came all the way here to save me... just like you saved me back at the fair-"

"No, Cleo, you don't understand," said Red X, turning around and reaching up to pull off his mask. _"I have to tell her... it's because of me that she was kidnapped... it's because of me that she was raped... I have to show her the truth."_

And slowly, he removed his mask... once it was off, he turned around to look into Cleo's eyes.

"Cleo... it's because of me that you were kidnapped," said Sanza, his own eyes beginning to water. Cleo, completely shocked at what she was hearing, let out a gasp and put her hand to her lips. "They took you to keep me from interfering with their plans... I'm Red X, and somehow they figured that out... it put you in danger... and I'm... I'm so sorry..."

Cleo didn't say a word for several seconds... she just continued to stare at Sanza, still stunned at his incredible revelation.

Then, she walked up to him and slapped him hard across the face, hard enough to draw blood from his lower lip.

"YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" shrieked Cleo, tears coursing down her face. Her fists clenched, and as Sanza slowly recovered from the shock of having been slapped, she rammed one of her fists into his stomach, causing him to gasp and double over. "I can't believe you wouldn't tell me something like that! You KNEW that being Red X would put me in danger, and you didn't even warn me that something might happen? I loved you, Sanza... I... I was going to give you... last night... I was going to give you what that rapist son of a bitch Jarvin kid took from me over and over again... do you know... how much pain I went through, Sanza? DO YOU?"

Sanza couldn't speak... he couldn't even bear to look up at Cleo... he took a gasp of air, but that was it... and Cleo continued to rain her wrath down upon him.

"I LOVED YOU! I LOVED YOU AND YOU COULDN'T PROTECT ME! ...I don't love you any more, Sanza... I hate you... I hate you for putting me in danger... I hate you for letting me get raped... I hate you... I never want to see you again..."

Cleo's sobbing overwhelmed her words, and gave Sanza time to recover. He slowly stood up, not knowing what to do... he knew he deserved every hateful word that Cleo was saying to him, but he still loved her... and he was still sorry about what had happened to her. He felt as if his soul was being ripped from him... and he had to say something, had to do something to try and comfort Cleo.

He slowly reached out to touch her shoulder... and she kicked him as hard as she could, right in the groin. As he let out a gasping scream and fell to the ground, Cleo began to leave the room, stopping only to yell at him some more before running out.

"FUCK YOU, SANZA! I hate you for everything you've done to me! GO TO HELL!"

And with that, Cleo fled the room, pushing her way out through the double doors, tears streaming down her face. Sanza, his mask lying on the ground next to him, could only writhe on the ground, his heart aching for Cleo, not caring that she hated him but only that she'd been through such terrible agony... and that he hadn't been able to protect her.

And then, he began to cry.

O-O-O

And that concludes this sad and historic chapter! Historic because for the first time in the history of a Teen Titans fanfic, someone gets raped that's NOT Starfire, Raven, Robin, Beast Boy, or Terra. Because when you get right down to it, the only person capable of raping a Teen Titan is Jack Bauer, and only then if it's for national security. ("There's a bomb in your vagina and this is the ONLY way to get it out!") So anyway, I want some reviews. Pwease?


	13. Trembling Heaven

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Teen Titans. If I did, this would be on TV and not here. 

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This doesn't take place in the same storyline as my "Forced Base" and "Fractured Heart" stories, so forget those when you're reading this. Also, about Sanza/Red X: When he's wearing the mask, he's Red X. When he's not, he's Sanza. Simple as that.

SECOND AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a sequel to "The Life and Times of Red X", which is in my profile. Read that before you read this. Also, this fic COMPLETELY IGNORES the events of the fifth season (with the exception of "Go"). For the purposes of this fic, "Things Change" NEVER HAPPENED.

O-O-O

"We've been all over this floor and we still haven't found any sign of the signal controller," said Cyborg, as he, Robin, and Starfire continued to navigate the hallways of the Laredo production facility's fifth floor. "My scanners are showing that the controller's nearby, but it's got a jammer and I can't tell exactly where in the building it is."

"Keep looking," Robin replied, a determined look on his face. "Try to override the signal jammer if you can... I'm pretty sure that the controller is on this floor. This is the only place in the building where a signal of the strength required to activate those generators could be transmitted from."

The three Titans knew that they were running out of time... and if they couldn't find the controller, they could only hope that the other members of their team could locate it before it was too late.

The Titans' search was disrupted by the sound of running, accompanied by quiet sobbing... the sounds were coming from the hallway just ahead, and the three teens readied themselves for what could be a potential ambush. They stood in the middle of the hall and went into fighting stances... only to see a bruised and disheveled girl turning the corner and running toward them. When she saw the Titans, she slowed down a bit, jogging over to Robin and nearly collapsing into his arms.

"My goodness... you appear to be injured, what has happened to you?" asked Starfire, before recognizing the girl as Cleo. She and Robin had met Cleo once before... at the Fall Festival, when she and Sanza were out on a date together. "Cleo... what has happened?"

Cleo sniffled, burying her head in Robin's shoulder, her entire body trembling. When Cyborg did a brief scan of Cleo's body, he realized the grim truth of her condition.

"Robin," whispered Cyborg, leaning in toward the Titans' leader and quietly speaking into his ear, "I think she's been... I think she's been raped."

Robin didn't say a word... he simply wrapped his arm around Cleo and held her tightly to his body for several seconds, letting her get out all the tears that she wanted... from the way that her body was trembling, he knew that Cleo had been through hell.

"Who did this to you? Can you tell me their name?"

Cleo sniffled, and slowly pulled away from Robin. She bit her lip and looked away from him for a couple of seconds... then her gaze returned to Robin's face, and she finally worked up the nerve to speak her attacker's name.

"It was... it was Jarvin's son... that rich kid that's on the news all the time, he... he came in where I was being held, and he... he..."

Cleo began sobbing again, and nearly collapsed to the floor. Starfire rushed over to help her to her feet, but she waved Starfire off and stood on her own, then looked away from the Titans for several seconds, just staring out into space with a blank look on her eyes. Every time she tried to think, her mind kept replaying the horrified images of what had happened to her over and over again... she couldn't even think of Sanza, who'd been the entire reason that she had been kidnapped in the first place. Gently, Starfire reached over and placed a hand on Cleo's shoulder.

"I... I am truly sorry..." said Starfire, as tenderly as she could. _"How horrible it must be to have someone force himself upon you... even on my open-minded planet, such conduct is regarded as absolutely reprehensible..."_

Starfire's sweet, understanding voice managed to pierce through Cleo's horrible flashbacks in order to bring her a few seconds of comfort... and she once again managed to calm herself down, wiping away the tears from her face and slowing down her breathing a bit.

"You need to go to the hospital," said Cyborg. "Any one of us could take you, but you need to go right now..."

Without a word, Cleo nodded, and Robin walked over to face her.

"I'll take you... I'll make sure you get there safe, and I'll stay until your parents arrive. Cyborg, you're in charge of the team until I get back... take Starfire and find the other members of the team. We _have _to stop these guys right now."

"Robin... I could probably reach the hospital faster if I flew... maybe I could-"

"Starfire, you and Cyborg need to stay here... you're a lot more useful in taking people down than I am. I'll be back as soon as I can..."

Robin gestured for Cleo to follow him, and with some reluctance, she slowly began walking alongside him, knowing that Robin was probably the only man in the entire world that she could trust at that moment. As the leader of the Titans, he could protect her from anything... and unlike Sanza, he'd never endanger her.

"Thank you... Robin..." Cleo's voice came in a weak, almost-terrified tremble... her spirit had been completely crushed by her ordeal, and she'd used the last of her emotional strength to rebuke Sanza just a few minutes before. Robin looked over at her with an expression that reflected complete understanding and concern.

"Did you escape on your own, or...?"

"Sanza rescued me," replied Cleo, almost spitting his name as she continued to look down at the ground. "It's the only goddamned good thing he's ever done for me... I want nothing else to do with him, ever again."

Robin was surprised by Cleo's hatred of Sanza... especially since whenever he'd seen the two together, they'd been so close... did Cleo really blame Sanza for everything that had happened to her? Whatever it was, it was obvious that the two of them had had a serious falling-out... and wherever Sanza was, he was probably hurting almost as much as Cleo was.

"_She... she probably blames him for putting her in danger... and I know Sanza can't be happy about what's happened to Cleo."_

O-O-O

The cold concrete of the storage room was no comfort for Sanza, who had been sobbing on the floor for the past several minutes, his hands curled into fists as he crouched into a fetal position and thought of all the horrible things that must've happened to Cleo... all because he wasn't there to protect her.

"_It could've been mom... it could've been Maddy... god, my luck's completely run out... Cleo's never going to speak to me again, and I don't blame her."_

Sanza's worst nightmares had been realized... someone he loved had suffered horribly because of his life as Red X, and he'd been too late to save them from that suffering. The very mission that he'd become Red X to complete had been completely botched. Now, all Sanza could do was lie down and cry about it... or was there something else?

As his mind continued to dwell on all the horrors that Cleo must have suffered, his grief and sadness slowly began transforming into rage... Lonnie Jarvin was somewhere in this building, and Sanza had to make him pay. Screw the seismic generators, screw the city... Sanza had focused all of his anger and his determination on finding Cleo's rapist and making him regret ever laying a finger on her.

Sanza picked his mask up from the ground and slowly began to rise, wiping the tears from his face and sliding the mask over his head. He looked out at the exit to the storage room, his mind alternating between what Lonnie had done to Cleo and what he was about to do to Lonnie. There would be no escape... no chance of mercy... Sanza Salazar was going to rip Lonnie Jarvin apart.

"_This is for you, Cleo..." _thought Red X, walking toward the door and pushing it open. He was now standing in another dark storage room, with another large, metallic door at the far end. As soon as he'd taken the first step toward that door, it began to open, and someone stepped through it, a smile on his face. That someone... was Lonnie Jarvin.

"Guess this'll be the last time I get to have my fun before the quake hits," Lonnie said to himself, oblivious of the costumed thief standing at the other end of the room. Whistling to himself, he casually strode past several rows of boxes, before a quiet voice jolted him out of his lustful excitement.

"This'll be the last time you do _anything, _you son of a bitch."

The young man stopped in his tracks and stared straight at Red X, an expression of surprise appearing on his face.

"H...hey there," said Lonnie, a nervous twitch in his voice as one of his hands slowly began reaching behind his back. "I... I suppose you found your girlfriend, huh?"

Without a word, Red X rushed toward the younger Jarvin, his hand pointed straight at the young businessman's leg. He fired a single exploding X, which detonated as it hit Lonnie's ankle and sent him catapulting into the air before landing on his face on the concrete floor with a loud cry of pain. As he tried to stand, X's foot slammed into his side, rolling him over onto his back so that he was staring up at the ceiling. Soon, he was staring right into the eyes of Red X's mask.

"You little prick... you think you can get away with everything just because you're rich, don't you? You hurt Cleo... you hurt her... but you don't care, do you? All you care about is fulfilling your sick fantasies, don't you?"

Thinking quickly, Lonnie struck X in the stomach with his right foot. This stunned the thief just long enough for Lonnie to roll out of the way and stand up.

"You're damn right I can get away with whatever I want... destroying the city... raping your little bitch... but it's not because I'm rich, it's because I'm smart!"

Lonnie pulled his hand out from behind his back and leveled the barrel of a revolver at Red X's head just as the thief turned back toward him. As he fired the first shot, Red X ducked and charged forward, slamming his elbow into Lonnie's chest and knocking him to the ground again. He skidded back several feet but managed to get the gun pointed at X again, his eyes narrowing as the thief fired two metallic Xs that embedded themselves into the ground around Lonnie's ankles, pinning him down.

"So I'm not going to be getting up again, big deal," said Lonnie, his finger on the trigger of the revolver. "This Desert Eagle says you won't be getting up again either!"

Another shot rang out through the room, and this time, the bullet grazed X's shoulder.

"You think that's going to stop me?" said Red X, paying no attention to his wound as he walked toward the partially-immobilized Lonnie Jarvin. "You have _NO _idea what I'm going to do to you!"

X's voice was gradually getting louder and more furious with every second, and Lonnie couldn't help but feel a twinge of fear at the thief drew closer and closer to him. With a shaky hand, he fired two more bullets from his gun... which missed Red X completely and embedded themselves into a concrete pillar near the center of the room. As he raised his gun to fire again, X struck with a kick that knocked the gun from Lonnie's hands and sent it skidding across the room. Now, Lonnie had a reason to be scared... and as he tried to pull out the metallic bands keeping his legs anchored to the ground, X struck him with another kick... this time to the face.

"AAAGH!" screamed the rich young businessman, his body snapping backward from the force of the kick. When he lifted his face again, it was covered in blood that was rapidly trickling down his nose and lip... clearly, the kick had done some serious damage. "You... you can't do this to me! I-"

"Shut the fuck up!" screamed Red X, launching a kick that impacted the side of Lonnie's jaw and sent him splaying out on the floor, his hands limply resting at his sides. "I'm gonna make you pay for what you did to Cleo..."

By now, it was obvious to Lonnie that he was completely at Red X's mercy... his plan of shooting the thief dead should he ever come across him had failed miserably, and with his legs pinned to the ground, it would be impossible for him to run. His entire body shook with fear, and the first of many tears began making their way down his face.

"P...please... I'm sorry..."

"Sorry that you raped Cleo, or sorry that I'm about to beat you to death? Don't answer, I already know what _you're _sorry about."

Red X bent over and struck Lonnie hard with a punch to the gut, knocking the wind out of him and stopping the next words that he was about to say. He sat up and stared at the ground, which was rapidly starting to spin... but before he could even think of passing out, X struck him with a kick to the side, triggering a sharp pain that forced out a loud scream.

"And I'm just getting started..." said Red X, kneeling beside Lonnie and looking right into his terrified eyes. _"When I'm done with you, you're going to wish that you were Cleo..."_

O-O-O

Raven leaned against the wall outside the men's restroom with a perturbed frown on her face, annoyed that Beast Boy couldn't hold it in until after the Titans had stopped the threat against the city. Terra paced in front of the door, bearing a far more stoic expression... she too wished that Beast Boy could just wait, but then again, she didn't want him to suffer... and either way, it wasn't like their search had been exactly fruitful.

"We've got just a little bit more of this floor to search, then we're heading back downstairs," said Raven, briefly glancing over at Terra.

"All right..." Terra replied, her mind focusing on the task at hand... stopping the terrible fate about to befall Jump City. "I just hope Red X found Cleo okay... he seemed really worried about her."

"_A little _too _worried if you ask me..." _thought Raven, her arms crossed over her chest. _"I know she's in danger, but so is the city... and a million people are a lot more important than just one."_

Still, Raven understood the importance of making sure one's loved ones were safe... and certainly, if it were one of the Titans in danger, even Terra, Raven wouldn't be able to help but be at least a _little _distracted over their plight.

"He'll find her... what _we _need to worry about is stopping the-"

"Raven! Terra!" Starfire's voice, loud and cheerful, had interrupted Raven and had drawn both her and Terra's attention to the end of the hallway, from where Starfire and Cyborg were charging down, both of them excited to reunite with their fellow Titans.

"Yo, where's BB?" asked Cyborg, before spotting the men's restroom nearby and realizing exactly where his friend had gone. "Oh... that figures."

"Where's Robin?" Terra responded, noticing that Starfire and Cyborg's group was one member short. "Did he go off and-"

"It is a long story... and a sad one as well," said Starfire, bowing her head as she remembered what had happened to Cleo. "To make it short, Red X found Cleo, but she had been... she had been forced into the act of mating."

"Cleo got raped, and Robin took her to the hospital," said Cyborg, rephrasing Starfire's description of Cleo's plight.

"Where's Sanza?" asked Terra, a wave of concern filling her body and inadvertently causing her to refer to Red X by his real name. "Is he all right? Is he going after the person who-"

"That's what we think," replied Cyborg, "and we should probably find him before we pick up our search... I know where he might be, it's the area we saw Cleo coming from."

Raven, like Terra, was shocked and saddened by the news of what had happened to Sanza's girlfriend... rape was a crime that the Titans typically let the police handle, as none of the supervillains they faced in their various crime-fighting excursions were sexually deviant in any way. They'd seen buildings destroyed and had rescued people in danger, but rarely did they come face to face with some of the uglier things that criminals were capable of... being an empath, Raven could easily imagine some of the things both Sanza and Cleo must be going through.

But the fact remained that Jump City was in danger... though the overwhelming consensus among the Titans was that they had to make sure that Red X, in his rage, wasn't endangering himself or anyone else. They had to find him before they could go ahead and save the city... hopefully, it wouldn't be too much of a detour.

"Are you sure we've got enough time to check on Red X?" asked Raven as Cyborg signaled for them to follow him down the hall. "The city's still in danger... and he might not even _be _where you're thinking he is."

"If Red X is as angry as I believe him to be, he may do something that he will almost certainly regret later... and we cannot allow that to happen," said Starfire.

"It's not gonna take that long, he's not all that far from here," added Cyborg. "Besides... if the machine being used to control those generators is heavily guarded, we're gonna need X's help anyway."

Cyborg, Starfire, and Terra began running down the hall, while Raven slowly shook her head and started to follow them, walking instead of running. A hand touched her shoulder, and she turned around, knowing exactly who it belonged to.

"Beast Boy, you almost got left behind," said Raven, before turning and running down the hall. "See why we didn't want to stop for you?"

"Wait, where are you guys going?" shouted Beast Boy, struggling to keep up with the rest of his friends. _"At least I feel a whole lot better now!"_

O-O-O

Red X stomped on Lonnie several times, his foot coming down on various parts of the rapist's body. After working his legs and chest for several seconds, X stomped down repeatedly on Lonnie's crotch, forcing several progressively louder screams from the younger Jarvin's mouth.

"Stop! Stop, you're killing me!"

"You wish," said Red X, striking Lonnie in the side of the head with another powerful, brutal kick. As Lonnie closed his eyes and emitted several pained, terrified sobs, X brought his leg back to strike him again, while in his mind, his rescue of Cleo played out over and over again. He could remember every bruise, every cut on her body... he could hear every hateful word she yelled at him... and knew that he deserved every single one. How could he say that he loved her if he couldn't even protect her? _"Cleo... I'm making it right... I promise, this man will never touch you again."_

Instead of kicking Lonnie, Red X walked over to where the Desert Eagle had skidded earlier, bending over and picking it up. Through swollen, tear-filled eyes, Lonnie could see X picking up the gun, and let out another loud scream before shaking his head rapidly as the thief slowly came back toward him.

"N...no! No, that's murder! You can't do that!"

"Last time I checked, murder and rape were _both _crimes, Lonnie," said Red X, kneeling down beside the terrified man and pressing the barrel of the Desert Eagle against the side of his head. "The way I see it, I'm just balancing out the universe."

In an act of desperation, Lonnie tried grabbing for the gun, but Red X raised his foot and stomped down on Lonnie's wrist, breaking it almost instantly. The man gave another scream and turned his head away, sobbing violently and using his left hand to nurse his broken right wrist.

"N...no... please..."

"This is how Cleo begged too, isn't it? This is how she begged before you raped her... oh, I forgot, she was gagged, so she _couldn't _beg. Yeah, that's really tough of you, Lonnie, raping a girl who can't even defend herself. You're a reeeeeeeeeeal tough guy, aren't you?"

"Please... please... don't kill me... I... I have so much to live for..."

By now, a pool of tears had formed around Lonnie's head, mixing with the blood still dripping from his face. With the barrel of the Desert Eagle pointed at his temple, Lonnie Jarvin knew that he only had a few more seconds to live. He closed his eyes and waited for the end... waited for Red X to kill him.

The thief pulled the trigger.

"_Click."_

The thief pulled the trigger again.

"_Click."_

Lonnie opened his eyes.

"_Click. Click. Click. Click."_

Red X tossed the gun down in front of Lonnie's face, revealing an empty chamber. Then, he opened his palm and showed the trembling, sobbing man two small bullets. He had emptied the chamber before he'd fired the gun... and in the process, he'd scared Lonnie Jarvin nearly to death.

"I could've killed you... I could've blown your head off right there," said Red X, who, despite all that Lonnie Jarvin had done... despite the fact that he'd probably ruined Cleo's life by raping her, and had helped plot to destroy the city, couldn't bring himself to kill someone who was lying on the ground helpless and sobbing. "But then I'd be no better than you... you, a person who would force himself on a helpless girl. I spared you so that I could show you that I'm a million times the man you'll ever be... think about that while you're spending the rest of your pathetic, miserable life in jail."

Red X struck Lonnie with another kick to his side. Lonnie let out a scream and spat a small amount of blood onto the ground... he leaned his head to his side and closed his eyes, completely humiliated as he continued to sob violently.

"And while you're in your cell... or in the prison shower, getting ten times the treatment that you gave Cleo, I want you to think that the only reason that you're alive is that I spared your pathetic life. And believe me, you _will _go to jail. I'm sure the Titans are taking Cleo to the hospital, and the DNA evidence that the doctors get from _her_, on top of all the blood you left on this floor, are going to put you in a fix that even your million-dollar lawyers can't get you out of."

Red X's beating and humiliation of Lonnie Jarvin had served a cathartic purpose... while he still felt horrible about what had happened to Cleo, he could at least get up and finish the _other _job he'd come here to do... which was making sure that the city, as well as his family at home, remained safe. He turned away from Lonnie and started walking toward the door that led back to the main hallway.

He'd barely taken a step when the door opened and the Titans, sans Robin, entered the room. They saw Red X, they saw Lonnie, and they immediately put two and two together.

"I didn't kill him, if that's what you're wondering," said Red X, walking toward the Titans while still retaining a slight hint of anger in his voice.

"We know," replied Cyborg, gazing around Red X toward the sobbing and injured Lonnie Jarvin. "I can hear him crying..."

Beast Boy, who'd been given the lowdown on what Lonnie had done to Cleo while the Titans were heading toward the storage area, gazed at the sobbing man with an angry, hateful glare. He could only imagine how angry that he would be if someone had done something like that to Terra... or to Raven, or to Starfire.

"_Whatever you did to him," _thought Beast Boy, _"he deserved it."_

"I am... sorry," said Starfire, placing her hand on Red X's shoulder as he walked past the Titans and toward the room's entrance. "I only hope that Cleo will recover, and-"

"She'll be fine," replied Red X, though in truth he knew that even if Cleo 'recovered' from what had happened to her, she would never be the same again... no one who had gone through an ordeal like that was ever truly able to return to the same person they were before. "Right now, we've got a city to save."

The five Titans followed Red X out of the room, leaving Lonnie Jarvin behind, having absolutely no sympathy for the injured man now writhing on the concrete floor in pain and humiliation. For Red X, saving Jump City would be the first step on what he knew would be a long road to redemption... but only if he did a better job saving the city than he did 'saving' Cleo.

O-O-O

Robin took one last look into the hospital room... the sight of Cleo's mother weeping over her physically and emotionally ravaged daughter was hard for even _him _to bear, and only the fact that Cleo was now safe and sound brought him any comfort at all.

"_That's the risk of being a hero... that's why I always have to wear this mask..."_

The young hero slowly walked down the sterile corridors of the hospital, making his way out of the Intensive Care unit and toward the lobby. He still had a job to do, and his friends needed him... but it was a long journey back to the processing center, even on his ultra-fast T-Cycle. The entire way back, he knew he would be thinking of Sanza... and how devastated the young man must be to see such a terrible fate befalling one of his loved ones. He walked out into the parking lot, climbed onto his T-Cycle, and raced off into the night, silently thankful that only Batman, Barbara Gordon, and the Titans (except for Terra), knew of his true identity. For Robin, the people he truly strove to protect already knew who he really was... and could adequately defend themselves. For Sanza, the situation was quite different... the people that _he _wished to protect had no idea of his dangerous secret.

"_I just thank God that it wasn't Maddy who was raped..."_

O-O-O

The group was silent as they made their way into the last area of the fifth floor that they hadn't previously searched. Cyborg was at the head of the group, with Red X close behind him, and Raven, Terra, Starfire, and Beast Boy clumped together and bringing up the rear. Any security guards that the six came across were swiftly taken down, and many of the guards who had been patrolling the floor decided to simply leave the area before the Titans and Red X found them.

"Are you sure you wanna stay here?" asked Terra, having seen no visible emotions from Red X as the group was navigating the hallways.

"Just because Lonnie was the only one who raped Cleo doesn't mean that everyone else here isn't somehow responsible," replied Red X. "There are more people here that need to be punished, and I'm going to do just that..."

Soon, they passed a sign reading 'Central Communications', and Cyborg could start to detect signs of a nearby transmitter, the signal becoming too strong for the jamming devices to block it.

"This is it, we're getting close now," said Cyborg. They passed through several more hallways, many of them lined with windows and offices, before making their way to another set of metallic double doors similar to the ones leading into the storage area where Cleo was being held. "Signal's strongest right here... whatever triggers the earthquakes has to be behind this door."

"I just hope we're not too late..." said Beast Boy, a hint of nervousness in his voice. A reassuring look from Terra steeled his courage and focused his attention back on the metal doors.

"_If we are, then Robin is in serious danger..." _thought Starfire, who knew that Robin was still in the city with Cleo... and right in the danger zone if the earthquake were triggered, which is exactly why she'd wanted to fly Cleo into the city. "Let us make haste."

Cyborg pushed the doors open, and followed Raven, Terra, Beast Boy, Starfire, and Red X into a large, empty room with gray metallic panels lining the walls and the floor. At the far end of the room, a long, glass window could be seen twenty feet above the ground, stretching across the entire length of the wall. A single man could be seen inside, his gaze focused down on the six teenagers who'd come to stop him.

"You made it, Titans... and you as well, thief," said Nicholas Jarvin, a supreme confidence in his voice. He sat in a tall leather chair, his hands resting on a long control panel. "I should have known that you would defy Sedaris' warning."

Red X gazed up at the elder Jarvin with contempt, mentally blaming him for the actions of his son.

"You really should've raised your son better," said Red X. "If you had, then maybe I wouldn't have had to make up for all those spankings you never gave him."

Jarvin Sr. let out a chuckle, seemingly unfazed that his son had sustained such a violent beating.

"I could care less what my son does, as long as he follows in his father's footsteps," said Jarvin. "As for you, rest assured, I will pay you back for what you did to him... by killing you with all the rest of your Titan friends. You children are in my house now, and that means that you're all mine!"

The metallic panels under Starfire, Terra, and Beast Boy lit up, and in less than a second, large metallic claws burst up from the ground and clenched around the midsections of the three of them, holding them high in the air and squeezing the three tightly. As they struggled and strained to escape, Red X blasted the glass window at the front of the room with exploding Xs. The glass didn't even crack from the force of the blast, and Jarvin simply laughed as the smoke cleared and his control room remained undamaged.

"This glass is designed to repel the force of a nuclear explosion, what makes you think you can break it with your pathetic little xynothium firecrackers? People like you disgust me."

Jarvin pressed a button on his control panel, illuminating a large section of floor at the center of the room. The metallic squares on the floor disappeared, and from them emerged an enormous silver head, its hair comprised of large black cables that gyrated back and forth.

"Activate Medusa Program A! Target... Red X."

The eyes of the metallic head lit up, and two bright blue laser beams slammed into X's chest, sending him flying back into the wall, his costume giving off tiny wisps of smoke.

"Azarath, metreon, zinthos!"

Raven attempted to use her powers on the head, but couldn't even get it to glow for half a second. Before she could try again, one of the cables slammed into her face, sending her into the left-side wall, her impact knocking out several panels.

"Beast Boy!" screamed Terra, leaning over and reaching out to him, thinking that he could pull her free of the metallic hand's grip. He too was having trouble with his escape, and when he tried to transform, he found that the fingers around him were gripping so tightly that he couldn't expand or contract his body enough to change shape. _"This room's made of metal, I can't get any rocks from the outside... there has to be something I can do!"_

While Terra and Beast Boy were struggling, Starfire had burst free and was attacking the bases of the hands gripping her friends with multiple Starbolts. After several such blasts, the hands finally released them both, and Beast Boy quickly transformed into a gorilla, ripping both hands out of the ground before they could grab him again.

"Terra, come over here and help out, I've got my hands full!" shouted Cyborg, using his energy cannon to blast away the cables emerging from the large robotic head at the center of the room. Every time he destroyed one, another would grow back, and Cyborg soon realized that he was embarking on a futile task. "I need _someone _to help me!"

"_I'm coming..." _thought Raven, running away from the wall and toward the center of the room to assist Cyborg. She pointed her hands at the top of the metallic head and once again began to chant. "Azarath, metreon-"

She hadn't seen that the panels underneath her had begun to light up, and before she could finish, small black cables had wrapped around her entire body, mummifying her and preventing her from finishing her focus chant. She struggled for several seconds before feeling the cables around her being cut away, and when she could see again, she was staring into Red X's face.

"He's got weapons everywhere," gasped Raven, already tired from having exerted herself so much during the fight with Cancer Beta. She looked up briefly to see Jarvin pressing another button on his control panel, and saw the area on the floor directly underneath Cyborg starting to light up. "Cyborg!"

Several large missiles from Cyborg's auxillary cannons had slammed into the robotic head at once, blowing it to pieces and sending fragments of scrap metal all over the room. As Cyborg did his victory dance, he didn't see the lit-up panel, and he tuned out Raven's warning.

"Go Cy, go Cy, it's your birthday, it's your birthday... go Cyborg, go Cy..."

An enormous explosion engulfed Cyborg, diverting all the Titans' attention to the spot in the room where he was once standing. Starfire let out a very audible gasp.

"No!" she screamed, quickly flying through the smoke, her glowing eyes showing her exactly where Cyborg had fallen. _"This is not good..."_

Cyborg was lying face-down on the ground, showing no signs of life. Starfire turned him over, her hand immediately going to his neck to check his pulse. He was alive, but unconscious, and for the moment, out of the fight.

"You're gonna pay for that..." said Red X angrily, gazing once more at the window of Nicholas Jarvin's control room.

"Like I'm going to pay for my son having his way with your girlfriend? I think you're the one who needs to be worried right now," said the confident executive, pressing several more buttons on his control panel. Nearly two dozen of the panels on the far wall began to open up.

"Get ready," said Raven, narrowing her eyes and raising a dark energy shield in front of her body. _"This isn't going to be good..."_

Suddenly, spheres of energy, flashing yellow and blue, began shooting out from the holes at the rate of nearly ten a second, a constant bombardment on the six teens. Starfire immediately raised her arms to protect Cyborg, and was herself engulfed in a large explosion as the spheres began slamming into her body. Out of concern, Red X ran toward Starfire, only to be hit multiple times himself and disappear in a cloud of smoke.

Fearful for her safety, and unable to defend herself, Terra crouched down into a fetal position, pulling her knees to her face and putting her hands over her head. Beast Boy rushed to her aid, transforming into a gorilla again and smacking several of the energy spheres away with his powerful fists. He then detransformed and knelt down beside Terra, placing his hands tightly around her body.

"Terra, you have to try and focus... I know you're far away from rocks, but that never stopped you before... just concentrate and bring them into the room, you can smash this whole place and take out all this guy's weapons!"

"Beast Boy, I don't know..."

Focusing as much as she could, she realized that many of the rooms inside the facility had concrete floors that could be molded and shaped just like rock... she'd done it before to help beat Cancer Beta, and she could do it now... she just had to figure out which direction the rooms were in.

"_There's rooms like that all over this place... if I'm careful, I'll be able to call up rocks from anywhere in the building!"_

While Terra was steeling herself for battle, Red X and Starfire were standing back to back near the fallen Cyborg, both using their explosive attacks to keep the energy spheres from getting close.

"You took a bunch of hits earlier, babe... you sure you're all right?"

"I will be just fine... and do not call me babe!"

"This shield... can't hold... much longer..." The bombardment of energy spheres had battered Raven and her magical shield to the point of near-collapse, and a few more seconds of having to endure all the explosions would almost certainly lead to the shield's destruction. While Beast Boy rushed to Raven's aid, Terra could feel a familiar rumbling from below her... and knew that just beneath her feet, the earth was stirring.

"I can keep this up all day," said Jarvin Sr., looking out over the group of Titans and seeing that they were rapidly succumbing to his barrage of energy spheres. "But I'd give you just a few more seconds..."

Suddenly, the left and right walls of the room gave way as dozens of large chunks of concrete ripped through them and flew right toward the back of the room. Before Nicholas Jarvin knew what was happening, a prodigious jolt nearly rocked him from his chair, a jolt caused by the pieces of concrete being propelled into the wall above and below him. The explosions caused by the spheres slamming into the ground and into the Titans ceased immediately as the cannons that had fired them into the room were destroyed.

"Bet you weren't expecting that," said Terra, looking up at Jarvin Sr. with a smile on her face and her hands on her hips. Stunned, he looked down at his control panel and saw that many of his weapon systems had been disabled by Terra's impressive show of force.

"That was awesome!" shouting Beast Boy, running over and throwing his arms around Terra. Exhausted, she let out a sigh as Beast Boy hugged her, her head softly draping over his shoulder. "I totally knew you could do that!"

Red X and Starfire, themselves exhausted by playing keep-away with Jarvin's energy spheres, had sat down in front of Cyborg, leaning against each other's back and breathing quickly for several seconds.

"We must still... stop... the seismic generators..." said Starfire, taking a quick look through Jarvin's window.

"_This is... kind of nice, actually..." _thought Red X, who could feel every breath that Starfire took as she leaned her back against his. He quickly brought himself to his senses, slowly rising to his feet at the same time as Starfire. Raven, Beast Boy, and Terra were standing as well, and all of them were ready to put Nicholas Jarvin out of business for good.

"You think this is over?" shouted Jarvin, his eyes scanning the control panel until he found one of his weapons that actually _did _work. "My technical genius trumps your strength and teamwork any day of the week!"

From the front wall of the room, just above the entrance, came the sound of nearly sixty panels lighting up, each making a progressively higher-pitched electronic beeping sound. Starfire, Raven, Terra, Beast Boy, Red X, and the just-reawakened Cyborg turned and looked up to see the panels disappearing and a miniature jet with a ten-foot wingspan begin to slowly hover forward out of the opening.

"Okay, what'd I miss?" asked Cyborg, though none of his fellow Titans answered him... their attention was completely focused on the miniature black fighter jet hovering at the front of the room, about twelve feet above the floor.

"Blink, and you'll miss _this_," said Terra, taking preemptive action by hurling several of the pieces of concrete she'd brought into the room straight at the front of the fighter jet. Out of its wings came several bright orange lasers that blasted the concrete chunks to pieces, the dust landing on the floor of the room. "Okay... that's not going to work..."

With amazing speed, the jet blasted forward, soaring over the heads of X and the Titans and spanning the hundred-foot length of the room in a twentieth of a second, generating a shockwave that knocked all six teens to the ground. Instead of hitting the wall, it stopped instantly and spun around, flying across the room again and keeping the group pressed face-first into the metallic floor.

"It flies faster than I do!" screamed Starfire, covering her ears to block out the intensely-loud noise that the jet made as it rocketed across the room several times in the span of a single second. "And my ears feel as if they will explode!"

"_Tell me about it..." _thought Red X, barely managing to turn himself around before the jet came by again. He raised up his arms and tried firing an X, but the jet was simply too fast, and his electrical disruption device pasted itself harmlessly to the ceiling. "Dammit!"

After the jet had made three dozen such passes, it stopped and began hovering in the center of the room, allowing the Titans and Red X to stand up again before circling around at a much slower speed.

"At least I can hit it now!" said Cyborg, attempting to latch onto the jet with suction cables, though as soon as he'd affixed them to one of the wings, the jet accelerated and ripped free, hurling Cyborg across the room and into a pile of rubble. "Aaaaaagh!"

"I'll handle this," said Beast Boy, transforming into a pterodactyl and swooping over to Red X. He couldn't talk, but he gestured with his head to indicate that he wanted the thief to climb onto his back.

"I _think _I know where you're going with this," said Red X, hopping onto Beast Boy's back and blasting sticky goo around his own legs and Beast Boy's sides to ensure that he _stayed _on. "You'd better not fly into a wall or anything stupid like that."

As Beast Boy flew up into the air with Red X, Starfire and Raven had already engaged in aerial combat with the jet, both of them firing energy blasts in an attempt to bring it down. The blasts hit the wings and nose of the jet, but proved to be ineffective, allowing the jet to return fire with laser beams and missiles. The two girls screamed as they were bombarded, but remained in the air and continued pursuing the jet as it repeatedly circled the room.

"You girls look like you could use a little help," said Terra, using a wayward chunk of concrete to levitate herself right into the center of the jet's circular flight path.

"I have an idea," said Raven, breaking from her position near Starfire and flying over to Terra. "Try to get a rock into that jet's engine... if you can do that, the jet will explode. Starfire and I will cover you."

"I don't think that's going to happen," said Jarvin, turning the jet toward Terra and Raven and causing it to launch a flurry of missiles in their direction. Raven put up a shield at the last moment to try and protect them, but the missiles punched right through, creating an explosion that hurled both Terra and Raven to the ground. The jet then hovered over them, preparing to finish them off with another missile barrage. "The best-laid plans always go wrong in the end..."

"I think you've got your quotes a little mixed up there, Jarvin," said Red X, leaping off of Beast Boy's back and onto one of the wings of the jet. It briefly tipped with his weight, nearly causing him to slide off, but he managed to crawl onto the main body of the jet and formed another electrical-disruption X in the palm of his right hand. "I'll see your missiles and raise you one completely disabled jet."

But before Red X could place down the electrical disrupter, he felt a sharp pain emanating from his groin. He looked down to see that the jet had raised a small metallic fin, sending shockwaves of stunned pain throughout his body. The X disappeared from his hand, and he slid off the back of the jet, landing on the ground next to Raven and Terra.

"This ain't good!" shouted Cyborg, watching the jet as it floated toward the back of the room. Out of its wings emerged several large, glowing guns, each of them pointed at the six weary heroes. "It's about to fire something, and whatever that something is, I don't wanna find out!"

Large red and white missiles, three times bigger than the ones that had taken out Raven and Terra, blasted forth from the wings of the jet and zoomed straight toward X and the Titans.

"They are powerful enough to destroy everything in this room!" shouted Starfire, her eyes wide with fear. She took a defensive stance and prepared to fire her eye lasers at the missiles, when suddenly, she could see a single white flash across the tips of all of them. Just after the flash, a huge explosion engulfed all sixteen missiles, detonating them at a safe distance from their targets.

"What happened?" shouted Beast Boy, who had detransformed and was now standing in-between the fallen Terra and Raven. "Did they all malfunction?"

When the smoke cleared and the light of the explosion died down, a single person was standing just below where the rockets had exploded... holding a long bo staff in his hands.

"Sorry I'm late," said Robin, a smile on his face.

Terra and Raven stood up, followed just a second after by Red X... they, along with Starfire, Beast Boy, and Cyborg, were stunned to see Robin in the room... but all of them were glad that he was back.

"Robin, you have returned!" said Starfire happily, resisting the urge to run over and embrace him.

"So what, now you have seven instead of six," said Jarvin Sr., annoyed that the missiles hadn't found their targets, but confident that his jet was still capable of destroying the intruders. "I still like my odds very, very well..."

"We're not going to let you destroy Jump City, and we're not going to let you get away with what your son did to Cleo," said Robin, briefly causing Red X to look over and smile at him. "Titans, go!"

Their energy renewed by the presence of their leader, the Titans raced into action, while Red X charged forward as well, not because Robin had told him to, but because he knew that now was their best chance to strike.

"_This is it, Jarvin... even with your expensive fighter jet and all your weapons, there's no way you can beat all seven of us... you'll be going down in no time."_

But before he could join the Titans in their attack, X saw something out of the corner of his eye... through one of the holes Terra had made in the right-side wall, he could see a dim hallway... and across that hallway was a door marked 'Communications Control Employee Entrance'. The Titans were too caught up in their attack to see Red X disappear from the room.

"This time you ain't gettin' away from me!" shouted Cyborg, blasting the wings of the jet with two more of his suction cables. The cables latched onto the jet, which attempted to accelerate to jettison itself free. Cyborg grabbed the ends of the cables with his hands and held tight, holding the jet in place and pulling it down slightly. "It can't fly away, hit it with all you've got!"

"Got it!" Terra said, giving the thumbs up to Cyborg as she levitated herself and Beast Boy into the air on the same chunk of concrete. While she began pelting the jet with stones, Beast Boy leapt onto the back of the jet and transformed into an elephant, his massive frame taking up all of the jet's wingspan and his weight causing it to slowly fall toward the ground. It retaliated by firing several missiles from its wings, forcing Beast Boy to detransform and throwing him off of the back of the jet.

Beast Boy let out a scream as he plummeted toward the ground, only to be caught by Raven, who swooped him up in her arms and gave him a much gentler landing a few feet away.

"Next time, try transforming into something that _isn't _such a big target," Raven advised, before floating up in front of the jet and focusing her powers. _"All right, Raven... you can bring this thing down... you've taken control of _much _bigger things than this jet before."_

As Raven focused, the black jet began to get even blacker as Raven's powers slowly washed over its surface. Jarvin repeatedly attempted to fire the jet's missiles, but Raven had completely overridden its systems, and all of its weapons were completely useless.

"Starfire, Robin, I've stopped its weapons, now take this thing apart!"

Starfire picked up Robin and lifted him onto the front of the jet, then gently released him onto its nose. He lifted up his bo staff and began repeatedly smashing the jet's front window, shattering it after just a few blows. On the floor below, Cyborg was beginning to strain, and the cables that he was using to hold the jet in place were starting to fray. Raven, who'd already exerted a great deal of her powers, was struggling to keep her control over the jet, and already she was on one knee, her hands pressed against the sides of her temples.

"Come on, come on, work!" shouted Jarvin, who had resorted to slamming his hands against all of the jet's controls in an attempt to try and get it to fire its weapons or fly away. Raven and Cyborg were keeping the jet from making any sort of moves whatsoever, and Terra's bombardment of rocks was rapidly weakening its external armor. _"Dammit... at least I only have to stall for a few more minutes..."_

Robin's hands began fishing through the front window of the jet, ripping out cables and attempting to put a permanent end to the jet's function.

"_Raven, Cyborg, hold on just a little bit more... I know you guys are hurting, but give me just a little more time..."_

Suddenly, he could hear two simultaneous screams, and a loud snapping noise. Cyborg had fallen to the ground, and Raven had passed out, the strain of controlling the jet's weapon systems proving to be far too much for her. With a triumphant shout, Jarvin triggered the jet's propulsion system, an acceleration that would almost certainly blast Robin back into the wall and kill him.

But the jet didn't move an inch... Starfire was holding onto the jet's tail with all her might, while Beast Boy, having transformed into an elephant again, had his trunk around her legs.

"Aaaaagh... ahhh... Robin... hurry..." The effort was clearly printed on Starfire's face, and her body was covered in sweat, a sign that she was exerting all her energy to keep the jet from moving. Beast Boy was holding on for dear life as well, the initial acceleration of the jet nearly ripping the trunk from his face.

"It's not going to help him if he gets blown to pieces!" shouted Jarvin, activating the jet's weapon system and triggering a gun mounted on top of the jet to point right at Robin's head. "Say goodnight, Boy Wonder!"

A small piece of concrete fell onto the gun, completely wrecking it and causing sparks to emanate from the top of the jet. Terra, balancing on a small stone about the size of a football, levitated in front of Jarvin's window and stuck out her tongue.

"Got it!" shouted Robin, ripping a huge chunk of cables from the interior of the jet. He leapt off of the nose and landed safely on the ground. "Starfire, you can let it go now."

Happily obeying, Starfire let out a gasp of relief and watched as the disabled fighter jet dropped out of the air like a rock and fell to the floor beside Robin, now nothing but a big piece of useless scrap metal.

"We did it, you guys..." said Robin, gently helping Raven up from the floor, then turning to the rest of the team. "All of us together..."

As the Titans exchanged celebratory high-fives, Nicholas Jarvin leaned back in his chair, his face in his hands, letting out a cry of frustration.

"That was the best weapon I had!" Jarvin shouted to himself, looking down at his now mostly-dim control panel. "How am I supposed to stop them-"

The phone on Jarvin's desk began to ring. With a loud, exasperated cry, he leaned over and picked it up.

"Hello?" shouted Jarvin indignantly into the phone. "Can't you see I'm-"

"Sir," came the calm, female voice on the other end, "we have all of the trucks and the supplies loaded, and they're ready to be deployed. You can trigger Trembling Heaven right now."

A smile slowly crossed Jarvin's face... he didn't have to defeat the Titans at all, and in his anger and dismay at seeing them survive his weapons, he had forgotten that all he had to do was stall for time. Now, their time was up, and he could activate the seismic generators that had been planted throughout the city.

"It's over," said Robin, looking up into Jarvin's window and staring him right in the face. The other five Titans were standing beside him, each of them bearing an equally serious expression. "We're going to get into that room and stop you... you have no more weapons to fight us with."

"You're right... it is over," said Jarvin, his finger levitating over a large, flashing red button at the center of his control panel. "Over for your precious Jump City... once I press this button."

A sharp shuriken X flew across the top of Jarvin's hand, knocking it away from the button and opening up a large, bloody gash in his skin. He turned around in his chair and saw Red X standing just a few feet away from him, his arms across his chest.

"You're not pressing anything," said Red X, prompting the stunned Nicholas Jarvin to let out a loud, angry yell.

"Just try and stop me!" replied the wounded executive, once again attempting to press the flashing red button. In less than a second, X hit Jarvin Sr. with a powerful shoulder charge, pressing him up against the protective glass wall and knocking all of the wind out of him.

"This is for not stopping your son!" shouted Red X, striking the old man in the cheek with a punch that knocked his glasses from his face and gave him a deep, purple bruise. "Now you're going to show me the button that turns off those goddamned seismic generators and makes it so that they'll never, ever work again."

"There... there is no... such button..." coughed Nicholas Jarvin, his feeble fingers once again trying to reach the red button at the center of his control panel.

"Fair enough," Red X replied, jamming his hand down on a smaller, green button toward the right side of the panel. The glass wall behind Jarvin Sr. opened up, which meant that the barrier separating the small control room from the large, impromptu arena that the six Teen Titans were standing in was now completely gone. "I'll just make it so you can't reach the button."

And with that, Red X hurled Nicholas Jarvin out of the control room and down to the floor below. Knowing that a fall from that distance would probably kill a man of Jarvin's age, Terra levitated a chunk of concrete below the man, softening his fall halfway down. The force of him hitting the concrete was still enough to knock him out, however, and as his unconscious body was slowly levitated to the ground, X leapt down from the control room and landed safely on his feet a short distance away from the Titans.

"Oh, he would've lived," said Red X, feigning annoyance that Terra had softened the elder Jarvin's fall.

"Just trying to be on the safe side," replied Terra. "As despicable as he is... I think jail is going to be punishment enough for him."

"How did you reach that room?" Robin asked, briefly looking around for any secret passages the Titans might've missed. Before he could catch sight of the route that X had used to reach the control room, X pointed him to it, indicating the hole Terra had created.

"There... it was luck, mostly," replied Red X, pointing at Terra. "So when you're giving out credit for saving the city, make sure it goes to that girl right there."

"No... you're the one who stopped him, I just smashed the wall," Terra replied, blushing slightly.

"Are you kidding? You totally kicked butt tonight, Terra..." said Beast Boy, patting the blonde geomancer on her back. "I knew you could do it!"

"We all kicked the butt tonight!" said Starfire, smiling as she looked around at all of her friends. "And now the city is safe!"

Just then, a loud rumbling, followed by a violent tremor, began to shake the room, knocking nearly all seven heroes off their feet. Terra gasped when she realized the cause of the rumbling.

"All that concrete I took out... it must have destabilized the whole building!" shouted Terra, a horrified look on her face. "I'm sorry, you guys-"

"It's all right," said Cyborg, taking a quick look at his scanner. "Except for Lonnie Jarvin, all the people in this building have gotten out already... I guess after we kicked their butts, they didn't want to stay around to protect their boss anymore..."

"So that means _we _need to get out," said Robin.

"Not a problem," replied Raven, pointing her arms up at the ceiling. "Azarath, metreon, zinthos!"

The metallic panels that formed the ceiling of the room began to rip away, and soon, the entire area was exposed to the night sky. Starfire grabbed onto Robin, Raven grabbed onto Cyborg, and Terra ushered Beast Boy and Red X onto a large chunk of concrete, which she then levitated into the air. The Titans and Red X escaped the building just as the top floors began to collapse, quickly taking the entire center-third of the building with it. The signaling mechanism for the seismic generators was destroyed almost instantly, rendering all three of them completely useless... but it wasn't until the Titans and X had lowered themselves into the parking lot that Starfire remembered one critical thing.

"We... we left that man in the control room..."

Another pang of guilt entered Terra's body, and she bowed her head, realizing that it was her fault that the Laredo production facility had partially collapsed, burying Nicholas Jarvin in a crush of metal and concrete.

"Hey... don't worry about it," said Red X, placing his hand on Terra's shoulder. "Remember Dr. Ruell?"

With a sigh, Red X continued to speak, remembering that Lonnie Jarvin had also been in the area of the building that had collapsed.

"Maybe... maybe these people _are _too dangerous to be left alive," said Red X, staring up into the night sky. _"Which means that God will forgive me for killing them..."_

With Terra's guilt quickly subsiding, the Titans were free once again to celebrate their victory... though they knew that for Red X, it had been an empty one. Cleo was in the hospital... though with her rapist now dead, Red X knew that she would at least be spared the pain of having to testify against him in court. Still, that didn't spare Cleo the pain of what had happened to her... or spare Red X the guilt of knowing that he'd been partially responsible.

"Sanza... we're going to go back to the tower... if you want us to drop you off at the hospital so you can talk to Cleo, just-"

"Robin, Cleo doesn't want to talk to me... and she never will," said Red X. "Just... just take me back home. There's something very important that I have to do."

After a year of keeping the secret to himself... of only revealing his identity to the Titans as a gesture of trust, it was time for Sanza to let the two most important people in his life know about Red X... know about the potential danger that they faced because of his double life. He knew that they, especially his mother, probably wouldn't respond the way that he wanted to... but this wasn't about what he wanted anymore. It was about what they needed... and they needed to know.

"All right," said Robin, "I'll have Cyborg take you back home in the T-Car."

As Raven, Beast Boy, Terra, and Cyborg headed with Red X toward the T-Car, Starfire walked with Robin toward his T-Cycle... her eyes focused on Red X nearly the entire time.

"_I know exactly what you intend to do, Sanza... I just hope that once the anger of your family has died down, that you will continue to help us protect the city..."_

Because tonight, more than any other night that Starfire had known Red X, he had shown that he was capable of playing the hero... if he only set his mind to it.

O-O-O

In the living room of the Salazar home, Maria and Maddy were seated in the living room, watching a documentary about the making of an upcoming movie.

"I can't believe it costs those studios over $200 million to make a movie," said Maria, rolling her eyes. "Sounds like a whole lot of waste to me."

"Half of it goes to pay all those actors!" Maddy responded.

On the floor of Maddy's room sat dozens of toys that she'd taken from the prize counter of the besieged Chuck E. Cheese as she and her friends left... the toys would more than make up for all her birthday presents being destroyed. The only thing that Maddy really wanted replaced was the book that Sanza had gotten for her, and Maria had already agreed to take Maddy to Bargain-Mart right after church to buy another copy.

"And do those actors really deserve all that money? Absolutely not... your teachers probably work ten times as hard and they make half as much as I do," said Maria. "It's an absolutely ridiculous world we live in..."

Just as a commercial began, Sanza, wearing a black t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans, emerged from upstairs, carrying a long, white box in his hands.

"Oooh, did you go out and get me another present?" asked Maddy, quickly standing up and walking over to her brother. "You didn't have to do that..."

"It's... it's not that," said Sanza, sitting the box down on the ground, then sitting down behind it. _"Please... please let mom not ground me for the rest of my life... _this is... this is something a lot more important. Mom, sis, you'd better sit down."

"Um... okay," said Maddy, sitting down on the other side of the box, while Maria remained seated in her chair in the living room. A look of concern formed on her face, and she wondered what her son could possibly want to tell her about... though from Sanza's expression, she knew that it wasn't going to be good.

"About... a year ago, I went to Titans Tower with Maddy... Maddy, you remember, mom, you probably remember too..."

"Yes, I remember that very well," said Maria, her mind still puzzled about what Sanza could be trying to tell her. She began wondering if she and Maddy's abduction by Slade several months before may have something to do with what Sanza was saying... if they were in danger from Slade again, perhaps? _"Please... please don't let this be about Slade..."_

"I took... I took something from them, and... and that's why you've been put in danger so many times," said Sanza, lifting up the cover of the box and revealing the Red X suit. "For the past year, I've been Red X. I've been stealing from people and fighting the Titans... and Slade saw that and wanted to make me his apprentice. That story about Starfire, that was a lie... I put both of you in danger, and... and I got Cleo hurt, and-"

"You did WHAT?" shouted Maria, rising from her chair and placing her hand over her mouth. She trembled as she stared at the contents of the box that Sanza was showing to her... as the terrible secret he'd been keeping from her and Maddy finally came to light. "You... you were Red X?"

Maddy was shocked at well, but unlike Maria, she wasn't angry... or even hurt. Instead, she was fascinated, and a bit... a bit amazed that her brother had been Red X. Her mind immediately recalled the moment when Red X had saved her from Plasmus... and remembered again when Red X had come to save her and her mother from Slade.

"You... you saved my life, big brother... you helped the Titans save me and mom, you-"

"I'm the reason both of you were put in danger in the first place, Maddy," said Sanza, turning away from his sister and trying to fight back tears. "I... I'm sorry..."

"Why... why would you keep something like this from us, ESPECIALLY after everything that happened?" shouted Maria, storming over to Sanza and grabbing him by the wrists. Her fingers tightened around his arms enough to cause him a bit of pain, but he didn't make a sound, he only turned his head away from his mother and looked at the ground, far too ashamed to look at either member of his family. "Was it because you thought I'd condemn you for stealing? Of COURSE I would, stealing is a sin! It's in the Ten Commandments, 'thou shalt not steal', 'thou shalt not steal'! But that's not why I'm mad at you, Sanza... that's not... that's not why..."

Maria released her grip on her son's wrists and put her head in her hands, letting out several quiet sobs.

"Mom... mom, I'm-"

"Mommy, no... Sanza didn't take the suit just to steal... I know he didn't..."

"I... I just wanted to protect Maddy... I saw Mumbo attacking her that day and I... I just... I made that promise to dad, and..."

Before Sanza could say another word, Maddy's arms wrapped tightly around his midsection, her head lovingly nuzzling his chest.

"Sanza... big brother... you... you just wanted to protect me..."

Maria wiped the tears from her face and watched as Sanza slowly wrapped his arms around his sister's back, returning her embrace with one of his own. Then she looked down at the box, and at the Red X suit inside... the suit that had caused so much trouble for her family... that put Maddy and herself in danger...

And that Sanza had used repeatedly to save Maddy's life... even if he was the reason she'd gotten into danger in the first place, he'd shown up to rescue her... and every single time, Maddy had been safe... and so had Maria.

"Sanza, that time when me and mom were kidnapped, you brought the Titans to save us, right? And that time at the Fall Festival, when that big purple thing was about to eat me, you beat the crud out of him, right?"

"Y...yeah... but... but..."

Maddy hugged Sanza even tighter. She could feel a few of his tears start to drop into her hair, and that only made her latch onto him even more...

"Maddy, you're choking me..."

"Oh... sorry..."

With a giggle, Maddy released Sanza from the hug. Sanza started to walk away, only to be embraced a second time, this time by his mother, Maria.

"I'm just glad... that _you _are safe... Sanza... my darling son... I love you so much... I don't want you endangering yourself... I know that you'd do anything to protect your little sister and that makes me so worried..."

All those times Sanza had come back with bruises and cuts... it made sense now, and Maria couldn't believe that she hadn't found out about her son's secret for more than a year.

"I love you too, mom... I'm not going to put on the suit again... if you don't want me to... I won't be Red X anymore..."

"Sanza..." said Maria, slowly releasing her son from the hug and looking into his face with an expression that Sanza couldn't tell if it was angry or calm, "I am going to tell you right now that I don't approve of you going out and stealing... that I don't approve of you putting your sister in danger... and that I don't approve of you lying to me all this time. But I know that even if I tell you not to be Red X again, that even if I destroy this suit you're going to find a way to get it back and go out behind my back anyway. You'll be eighteen in eleven months, if you can keep a secret for twelve months you can keep one for eleven more, and once you're eighteen I can't do a damn thing about you. So you're going to have to decide whether or not you think it's really right to be running around as Red X again..."

Sanza didn't reply... he just stared at his mother for several seconds, seemingly thinking about what to do or what to say next.

"But Sanza... whatever you decide to do... just... just try to make it something that _God _would want you to do. I know that you know what He wants..."

O-O-O

Sitting on the roof of the building and looking up into the stars, Sanza had no idea what God wanted him to do... and no idea if he ever wanted to be Red X again. He'd become Red X to protect the people he loved, and all he'd managed to do was to cause Cleo to get raped. So what if he'd been able to protect his mother and sister? He knew that every time he was going out as Red X, he was pressing his luck... and Maddy and Maria just might be the bad guys' next targets.

"_Sedaris... he's still out there... him and that other old guy... and I know that they still want to destroy this city..."_

"Sanza?"

A soft, gentle voice that could only be Maddy's signaled to Sanza that he wasn't alone on the roof... and sure enough, he looked to his left and saw his sister sitting next to him, a smile on her face.

"Maddy... I haven't told you or mom what happened to make me actually tell you guys why I told you about me being Red X, but..."

"Cleo, right? Something happened to her? You mentioned that when you told us... did she get hurt?"

"She got raped, Maddy... _that's _what happened to Cleo. She got kidnapped by a group of people who wanted to keep me out of their business, so they took her and attacked your birthday party. And one of the people holding Cleo hostage raped her. That's what happened... and it's my fault because I didn't get there soon enough to save her."

Maddy's smile immediately disappeared. Sanza bowed his head and let out a sigh, while Maddy took several seconds to let what her brother had just told her begin to sink in.

"I... I see..."

"And if I couldn't protect Cleo, then... I can't protect you guys either."

"But... but you did protect us, Sanza..." said Maddy, reaching over and taking her brother's hand. "Yesterday, you helped us fight off the robots..."

"Not really," Sanza replied. "You and mom and your friends fought off the robots."

"Yeah, but... but you saved me and mom from Slade. And don't tell me that the _Titans _saved us, because you were right there with them... I mean... you were up there fighting Slade, but... but if you hadn't fought him, then he'd have had us killed, so... so you did save us, just like I knew that you would."

Maddy's smile returned, and she gripped Sanza's hand even tighter. He looked over and into his sister's face, his eyes meeting hers.

"I kept... I kept imagining you coming in and freeing us... that's what kept me from going completely hysterical in there... I mean, I was scared, but... but somehow I knew that you would save us, Sanza. And I still believe that you can protect me..."

Sanza couldn't believe what he was hearing... after all Maddy had gone through, and after he'd just told her about what happened to Cleo, she wasn't scared at all... she still trusted him to protect her, no matter what.

"I think you should still be Red X... I think you should go out there and try to help people... and maybe steal a present for me every once in a while."

Maddy's last comment managed to make Sanza smile... the first time he'd smiled since he'd gone up onto the roof. He laughed for a second, then looked up into the sky again and began to think.

"Maddy... I'm still deciding... what I'm going to do... I just... the bad guys are still out there, and-"

"Then you need to help the Titans stop them! You've helped them before, right? So help them now... help them protect the city..."

Sanza stood up, still looking at the moon and the stars and thinking about what he was going to do now... if he was _ever _going to become Red X again... if he was ever going to protect the city, or protect his mother and sister again...

"You know I believe in you, Sanza, and I always will," said Maddy, standing up and once again wrapping her arms around her brother's back. Sanza took one last look at the sky before resting his chin on the top of his sister's head and slowly wrapping his arm around her, pulling her closely to his body. "I love you, big brother..."

"I love you too, Maddy..."

O-O-O

One more plan is foiled, and it looks like it's decision time for Sanza! While Maria may not be much of a hurdle, it's still up to Sanza to trust himself and figure out if he ever wants to put on the Red X suit again! And what of the Titans, who have no idea what the two remaining members of the 'Smartest Men in the Room' are planning next! Dullahan and Sedaris are still alive, will they continue their campaign to destroy Jump City? All these questions will be answered in the next chapter... or maybe none of them will be answered. Let's all wait and see how many I feel like answering.


	14. Fateful Words, Fateful Thoughts

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Teen Titans. If I did, this would be on TV and not here. 

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This doesn't take place in the same storyline as my "Forced Base" and "Fractured Heart" stories, so forget those when you're reading this. Also, about Sanza/Red X: When he's wearing the mask, he's Red X. When he's not, he's Sanza. Simple as that.

SECOND AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a sequel to "The Life and Times of Red X", which is in my profile. Read that before you read this. Also, this fic COMPLETELY IGNORES the events of the fifth season (with the exception of "Go"). For the purposes of this fic, "Things Change" NEVER HAPPENED.

O-O-O

Four rows back from the front of the cathedral, Sanza slumped his back into the cold, wooden pew and halfheartedly listened as Father Abuela read a passage from the Book of Luke. It was a chapter Sanza had heard during Mass many times before, and he fought to stay awake as the priest's reading dragged on and on.

The morning had been like any other typical Sunday morning... neither Maria nor Maddy had said anything about Red X since Sanza had woken up. He expected his mother to lecture him all through breakfast, or at least all through the car ride to church, but he got no such admonishment from her, and for that Sanza was somewhat grateful, especially since he still didn't know whether or not he wanted to continue being Red X. It was a choice, Maria had told him, that was best left up to Sanza... and to God.

"_Whatever God's saying right now, I'm not picking up _any _of it," _thought Sanza, his eyes rapidly blinking for several seconds as Father Abuela finished the reading and closed his Bible. When he began giving a dialogue about St. Peter, Sanza felt even more of an urge to sleep, but he knew that his mother, seated right next to him on his left, wouldn't approve. He continued listening to the priest, who spoke in his normal, calm tone of voice, his words transmitting a great warmness to all who had gathered for Sunday Mass.

"And when St. Peter, whom had once denied Christ three times but had taken charge of leading the Church after Christ's ascension was confronted with his own crucifixion, he asked to be crucified upside down, for he felt that he was not worthy to be crucified as the Son of God was. And so, despite the agonizing pain of being crucified in such a position, St. Peter endured and was soon brought up to Heaven to be with his Lord. And we remember his great works and his sacrifices today. And-"

"_And Cleo smacked me right across the face and ran off," _thought Sanza, his hands quivering in his lap. _"St. Peter endured for Jesus, but no one would ever be willing to endure for me..."_

And why would they have any reason to? Red X was a thief, a criminal... despite all the heroic things he'd done, he knew he wasn't worthy of anyone's respect... the only one who universally supported him as Red X was Maddy, and she would likely support him in anything, as kind as she was.

"_As long as I'm Red X, I'm going to be endangering the people I care about... but maybe I've endangered them already... I'm not helping anyone by stopping now."_

Sanza knew what his mother wanted, and he knew what Maddy wanted... but what did he want? What did God want? Sanza had no way of being sure... nothing that Father Abuela said in Mass could possibly help him... but there might be another way to get an answer from_ that _source.

O-O-O

"You finally told your mother and sister about Red X... my child, I know that this week has been very eventful for you, and that you are in great conflict about what you believe God wants you to do."

Through the rite of Confessional, Father Abuela had known about Sanza's secret for many months... every time Sanza had confessed the sins that he had committed as Red X, he had been told to give up his life as a thief... but this week was different. Sanza had confessed everything about the past seven days, both the good things and bad things he had done, and what the consequences of those actions had been.

"On one hand, I know that many of the things I'm doing... stealing, fighting people... it's sinful, and I know God doesn't want me to have anything to do with _that_... but on the other hand, some of these people... they hurt Cleo, they hurt her terribly, and-"

"And you are angry," said Father Abuela, his face concealed by the wall of the confessional booth.

"That... that's right," Sanza replied.

"Anger is a sin," said Father Abuela, "because it can lead us to cause pain to others, both physically and emotionally."

"I... I understand... sometimes it seems like God's angry all the time, why does he get to-"

"God's anger is righteous and just," replied Father Abuela. "His anger stems from the sins that mankind commits, both against Him and against others... but God's actions are always just, while the actions committed in anger by mankind are often excessive and reckless."

Sanza had expected a response like that from Father Abuela... and he began to feel a hint of shame for having briefly compared himself to God. When he was fighting criminals as Red X, he was judging their actions... he was exacting punishments that at times _could _be excessive, and in the case of people like Lonnie Jarvin, certainly reckless. By playing the hero, Sanza was playing God... but if that was true, than the Teen Titans were equally guilty... weren't they?

"...if I decided... to help people, as Red X... instead of hurting them, then... would I be sinning, or playing God? I mean, if I decided to do more than just protecting my family, would I be-"

"Do you mean like the Teen Titans do?" replied Father Abuela. "The Teen Titans are selfless... they fight for the people of this city without once thinking of personal gain, or of any other motivation besides protecting innocent lives. Certainly, Sanza, if you decided to help people rather than to steal, it would bring you much closer to God's grace... but not if you were helping them because you were seeking recognition, or wealth, or power... or even revenge."

It was as if Father Abuela was reading Sanza's mind. Hearing Sanza talk about Cleo, and then suddenly talk about becoming a hero like the Teen Titans were... it was clear to the priest that Sanza wanted to hunt down the rest of the people responsible for what had happened to her. But if Sanza went after those people with malice in his heart, he would be going down a dangerous road... a road that Sanza may never be able to come back from.

Sanza didn't reply to the priest's words... he leaned back in the confessional booth and began thinking about what Father Abuela had said... he looked up at the ceiling of the booth and briefly whispered a prayer.

"_Dear Heavenly Father... I know not what I should do... or what I must do... so help me decide what I'm going to do, and please, help me quickly... and give me the strength that I will need to carry out your wishes. Amen."_

"Sanza... are there any other sins you wish to confess?"

"There are none, Father."

"Then go in God's grace, and may the spirit of the Lord be with you. Amen."

"Amen."

O-O-O

In the main room of Titans Tower, a late-morning meeting was taking place, with all six Titans focusing on who the remaining two men whom Red X had described to them the previous day could be. Six men in the board room... four of them dead... if the plans of the last two had anything to do with the destruction of Jump City, it would be up to the Titans to figure out those plans and stop the men by any means necessary.

"I've gotten reports of multiple witnesses seeing a big man in a dust-covered suit walking out of the parking lot of the shopping center where that Chuck E. Cheese got hit," said Cyborg, pressing several keys on the room's control console and pulling up a profile on the big screen. "All descriptions point to this guy... Alex Sedaris, an employee of Baddalax Security, currently employed as a private bodyguard in the corporate sector."

"Baddalax... that's where Red X was a few days ago, wasn't it?" said Robin, his mind quickly thinking about the building and exactly what the Titans had seen there. "...where we _fought _Red X a few days ago."

"But he's just a bodyguard, right?" asked Terra, staring up at the screen. "I mean... I don't think a bodyguard would be in a room with a bunch of business guys..."

"Unless that bodyguard was working _directly for _one of them..." said Raven, her hand briefly going to her chin.

"Cyborg, pull up records of anyone who may have hired Sedaris in the past few months," said Robin. Cyborg nodded and began typing on the control console again... getting an error message almost as soon as he'd triggered the search. "Try again."

"Same error message keeps coming up," replied Cyborg, repeating the search several times, before the entire screen turned bright blue and displayed a 'fatal exception' error. "Oh shit, blue screen of death!"

The screen flashed off, and an annoyed Cyborg slammed his fist hard into the control console, shaking his head sadly.

"Dude, what did you _do_!" shrieked Beast Boy, waving his arms in the air. "The whole computer crashed!"

"I didn't do nothin' except try to run that search again," replied Cyborg, getting up from the control console and turning toward the hallway. "I gotta go restart the computer... it's been seven months since that's happened, I can't believe this... lousy computer..."

As Cyborg left, a calm Starfire, perhaps more computer-literate than any of the Titans save for Raven, stared at the blank screen for several seconds before offering up her own theory.

"Perhaps... someone does not want us finding out who the employer of Sedaris is..." said Starfire, "and they set up some sort of... computer protection in order to keep us from finding their identity..."

The computer flashed on and quickly fired up, but by the time Cyborg had returned to the room, Starfire's theory was already holding water with the team... and Robin decided not to ask Cyborg to run another search. Instead, he would be running a search of his own... without a computer.

"I'm going to do a little investigating on my own," said Robin, getting up from the couch and walking toward the elevator. "The rest of you can keep searching for leads... I'm pretty sure that Sedaris was one of the six men in the room, but we have to find out exactly who that other guy is... it could be any one of the executives working in the Mycoso Building, and once we determine who that person is, we'll be able to stop them from trying anything else."

After Robin left, the rest of the Titans went their separate ways as well... Starfire and Raven each retired to their rooms, while Cyborg stayed in the main room to run a diagnostic on the Titans' computer. As for Beast Boy and Terra, they went off into a hallway leading out of the Tower's main room... after all the events of the past week, they both had a lot on their minds.

"Terra... I know it's only been a few days since you came back, but..."

"You don't have to say anything, Beast Boy..." said Terra, smiling and gently reaching over to take his hand. "I've decided to stay with the team... if all of you will have me, that is."

Beast Boy's response to Terra's declaration was one of happiness... and a bit of surprise, as Terra could tell from the excitement of his voice.

"That... that's great, Terra! It's because you helped us save the city yesterday, right?"

"That's right, Beast Boy... I... I don't really have any more issues with controlling my powers, and I know that all of you at least trust me enough to let me live here... I mean, even Raven is more concerned about you than she is about me."

"...huh?" said Beast Boy, a puzzled look on his face. He stopped walking and looked over at Terra, and she stopped as well, her hand's grip briefly loosening on his. "What do you...?"

"I mean, she... she was worried that I might... that I might hurt you again, Beast Boy... and she didn't want to see you like that again... I could tell that she really cares about you."

Beast Boy nodded, remembering how depressed he'd been in the days immediately following Terra's betrayal... and after she'd been turned into stone, it took him nearly two weeks for him to return to his jovial, humorous self. All of the Titans had been concerned with Beast Boy's behavior during this time, but Raven, seemingly the one most annoyed with his 'normal' self, the one who hated his jokes and constantly dealt out sarcastic insults at his expense was particularly sympathetic toward Beast Boy during his time of melancholy. She'd even once tried making a joke of her own to cheer him up... of course, she stumbled on the delivery and completely botched the joke... which to Beast Boy was hilarious, and had been one of the first things to bring him out of the funk that he'd been in.

"Raven can be... well, moody, but when she's happy... which is, well, about an hour a month, she's actually really nice... and I love seeing her smile."

"Is that why you try to make her laugh all the time?" said Terra, raising one of her eyebrows.

"Yeah, I guess it is..." replied Beast Boy, chuckling to himself. Terra smiled and took Beast Boy's hand again, walking down the hallway until the two reached a split, one path leading to the left, and the other leading straight ahead, toward an upstairs elevator. It was at this split that Terra stopped and turned to the left, causing Beast Boy to reach over and take her shoulder.

"It's all right, Beast Boy... I'll catch up in a bit, I just wanted to see something... if that's all right with you, anyway."

"Yeah, of course, Terra... you know where _I'll _be, I'll uh... I'll try to clear a path for you before you come in," said Beast Boy, obviously referring to his messy room. Terra giggled again and kissed Beast Boy on the cheek, before walking down the hallway and passing several closed rooms. Once she saw that Beast Boy had disappeared from view, she stopped and sat down against the wall, leaning her back firmly against it and gazing up at the ceiling. The smile had disappeared from her face, and a look of sadness appeared in her eyes... which then started to tear up.

"_I... I screwed up," _thought Terra, reaching up to wipe the tears from her face. Her mind drifted back and forth... back to the moment aboard the Ferris wheel when she'd realized that she loved Beast Boy... at the very same time that she'd been working as a double agent for Slade, and that it was too late to let Beast Boy know of her duplicity. She'd hurt him, as well as all of her other friends, and for that, she knew she could never forgive herself. Even if they forgave her, even if they all came to trust her completely, she would never forgive herself for hurting Beast Boy the way that she did. _"God... how can he even LOOK at me after everything I did?"_

So she'd helped the Titans save the city... so what? She'd done that before, and then she'd turned around and betrayed them. As much as she could redeem herself in the Titans' eyes, she still found that she was unable to redeem herself in her own... and she didn't know when she could ever do that... or _if_.

Slowly, Terra stood up and brushed away the rest of the tears from her eyes. She knew that she and the other Titans still had a job to do... and she decided that the least she could do was to help them get that job done. Instead of making her way to Beast Boy's room, Terra headed back to the main room, where Cyborg was still running a diagnostic on the computer.

"Hey... need any help?" asked Terra, putting on her eager, happy expression as she walked toward Cyborg's control console. He shook his head, staring at the readout display on his arm to make sure no files on the Titans' computer had been corrupted by the crash. "O...kay then, I'll just, uh... sit on the couch and watch, I guess."

Terra slowly walked over and sat down on the couch, her arms resting against the top while her eyes became fixated on the ceiling, her brain entering into a state of deep thought.

"_I need to get over this somehow... I need to know that I've truly been forgiven..."_

O-O-O

Robin's T-Cycle jettisoned through the streets of Jump City, the midday sun reflecting brightly off its polished red surface. He knew he had one excellent lead, and he was going to follow up on it as well as he could... which meant that he would be returning to the Baddalax Security headquarters, to the office that had once been a battleground for he and his fellow Titans.

"_I know for a fact that the man X captured was hiding something... not only was he hiding information about Barrington, but I bet he's got info on Sedaris, too. Once I find out exactly who Sedaris is working for, I'll be able to bring him and his employer down once and for all."_

Instead of going through the front, which Robin knew that the building's stiff security wouldn't allow him to do, he wheeled the T-Cycle behind the building, from where X had made his escape and from where the Titans had given chase. A portion of the windows in the back of the building were still boarded up from when X had gone through them, and this was the area that Robin knew he was aiming for as he spun his T-Cycle around on the street to face the back of the building. He drove up onto the sidewalk by the fence surrounding the building and pointed his Birdcable at a small metallic pipe mounted on the roof just above the boarded window.

"_Time to make my entrance," _thought Robin, his eyes narrowing.

O-O-O

With all of his windows taped up and boarded, Derek Voscoti had to work in the artificial light afforded to him by the florescent bulbs mounted in the ceiling of the room. Ever since Red X had attacked him several days ago, he'd been looking over his shoulder every second, nervous that the thief may choose to strike at him again. All of the calls that he'd placed to Sedaris hadn't been returned, and it was quite clear that his all-time greatest employee had found new loyalty, leaving Voscoti in the dust.

"_This is the thanks I get for protecting your sorry ass?" _thought Voscoti, shuffling through several papers on his desk. His hand moved to his computer mouse, and he began clicking on various e-mails from prospective clients who wanted to request the services of his bodyguards. _"Sure, I sold Barrington down the river, but I never told the damn thief about you or Dullahan! See if I send you a Christmas card..."_

The wooden boards behind the security executive shattered, showering him with splinters and causing him to let out a loud scream, placing his head on his desk and covering it up with his arms. When he looked up, he could see the Boy Wonder standing on his desk, staring straight down at him. He wheeled back several feet in his chair, nearly falling out the now wide-open window.

"OH MY GOD!" shouted Voscoti, trembling in his chair as Robin leapt down in front of him. "What the hell do you want?"

"You know exactly what I want," replied Robin, reaching over and grabbing Voscoti by his collar. "I want a name... the name of Alex Sedaris' client. Sedaris works for YOUR security company, you know exactly who hired him, and you'd better tell me."

"N...no, nobody named Sedaris has _ever _worked here..." stuttered Voscoti, obviously stalling for time. Sweat trickled down his face, and he looked right into Robin's eyes, though every second or two his gaze would drift away. "You... you can't do this!"

"I can put you in JAIL," said Robin, lifting Voscoti a few inches out of his chair. His voice was deadly serious. "Or maybe I can just throw you out the window."

"No... no, you wouldn't do that, you're one of the Teen Titans, you're-"

Robin kicked Voscoti's chair hard, sending it flying backwards and tumbling to the pavement below. He then walked forward about half a yard, dangling the struggling man over the edge of the building. Had Robin not been holding Voscoti by the shirt collar, he'd have met the same fate as his chair.

"LAST CHANCE!" shouted Robin, his voice coming out in a furious roar. "I WANT A NAME!"

Just then, three tazers were slammed into Robin, one on each of his sides and one on the small of his back. He let out a scream and released his grip on Voscoti, falling to one knee and allowing the man he was holding to fall. Voscoti desperately reached out and grabbed onto the ledge where the base of the window used to be, holding on with his fingers for dear life. He looked up into his office and saw Robin surrounded by three Baddalax guards, each one with a gun leveled at Robin's head.

"Kill him!" shouted Voscoti, struggling to pull himself back into the room. "Kill the kid, blow his brains out!"

His entire body still tingling with pain, Robin managed to pull out his bo staff and swing it across the legs of two of the guards, knocking them off their feet and causing their shots to miss. He then rammed his elbow into the face of another of the guards, knocking him back and stunning him enough to allow the Boy Wonder to then kick the gun out of his hand.

"_Should've known he'd have called for backup," _said Robin, stinging with pain from the tazer shocks but still ready to fight the three guards. _"No worries... I can handle this..."_

As soon as the three guards recovered, five more guards ran into the room, led by a tall, blonde woman with an assault rifle slung over her shoulder. She'd had enough experience with Red X to know not to take any one person lightly... especially Robin, the leader of the Teen Titans. She pointed at him, signaling for the four men accompanying her to rush forward and point their own weapons at Robin, who leapt over the desk and faced down the men, his bo staff held at a distance from his body.

"I hate to break this to you, Robin, but you're surrounded..." said Voscoti, gesturing to the three guards now standing behind Robin, in addition to the five in front of him. "Outmanned, and outgunned... even the Boy Wonder can't face down odds like that."

Suddenly, a barrage of explosive Xs flew into the room, quickly filling the entire area with smoke. As the guards began to cough, another X flew into each of their hands, knocking the guns out of their grasp and to the floor. The smoke cleared quickly, and Robin saw someone behind him that he never expected to see...

"I dealt with seventeen of these guys at once, you're telling me that you can't take on eight? You're getting soft, kid..."

The blonde's eyes narrowed in rage as she stared at Robin's partner... Red X, whose last contact with her had been an impetuous slap to the buttocks.

"Oh, I see you're still working here," said Red X, slyly staring past the four male guards and into the eyes of the angry blonde. "How's that sexual harassment lawsuit coming?"

"Quit screwing around and kill them both!" shouted Voscoti, angrily pointing at X and Robin. Instead of bending down to retrieve their weapons, the seven male guards rushed forward at Red X and Robin, attempting to tackle them to the ground. Nodding to one another to indicate that they were on the same page, X ran toward the group of three guards, and Robin ran toward the group of four.

"Yaaaaaaaah!" shouted Robin, slamming the long end of his staff into the chests of all four guards to push them backwards. This move stunned the guards for about a second, long enough for Robin to leap into the air and knock all of them away with a spinning kick.

X took more agile measures to deal with _his _group of guards, ducking under one of them as they attempted to tackle him, then spinning back around to the other two guards and shooting them with a large metallic X that pinned them together back-to-back, their arms around the other's waist.

"HEY!" shouted the blonde woman, leveling her gun at Red X's face, "why don't you try dodging this?"

"Okay," replied X, swinging to the side just as the woman fired the gun. The bullets missed him and slammed straight into the chest of the guard behind him, who'd been about to tackle Red X from behind. The guard behind X was killed instantly, and as he fell to the ground, the blonde woman let out a loud gasp, horrified that she'd killed one of her co-workers. _"Ugh... maybe I should've tried something else there... didn't know that guy was right behind me..."_

Robin was still busy with the other four guards, keeping them at bay with a series of quick punches and kicks, despite the fact that the men were much bigger than he was. Meanwhile, the blonde woman who'd inadvertently killed her fellow guard was now facing down Red X, horrified to fire her gun again lest she kill another one of her friends.

"That's why I never use guns," said Red X, staring into the blonde's eyes. "I'm all about stealing, but murder's totally not my thing."

"D...damn you... _you _made me kill him!" shouted the blonde, throwing down her gun and clenching her fists. "I'm gonna tear you apart!"

She charged toward Red X, who simply somersaulted over the woman and blasted her legs with an X that expanded and solidified into a crystalline substance, pinning the woman's feet to the floor.

"I'm sorry about your bad aim," said Red X, standing just a foot away from the pinned woman, "but that's no need to take it out on a poor thief like me, huh? C'mon... live and let-"

The woman's fist rammed into Red X's groin, causing him to let out a gasp of pain. She slammed her fists into his groin several more times, bringing him to his knees and bringing a quick end to his stream of arrogant taunting.

"Live and let live? I'm not going to let _you _live another second," said the blonde, bending down as much as she could and picking up one of the guns that her fellow guards had dropped to the ground earlier. She pointed the gun at Red X's temple and placed her finger on the trigger. The stunned and aching thief tried to get away, but the pain shooting through his body was far too severe, and his trembling legs wouldn't allow him to stand. "Goodbye, bastard."

With a loud battlecry, Robin leapt forward, seemingly coming out of nowhere as he brought his staff down on top of the blonde woman's head. Her eyes rolled back, and her body slumped forward, her back arching uncomfortably as her pinned legs remained fixed in place. She'd been knocked out, and wouldn't be feeling very good when she woke up.

"Robin?" Red X moaned weekly, peering behind the Boy Wonder to see the other four guards unconscious on the ground. "You... you saved my life..."

"What are you doing here?" asked Robin, helping the aching Red X up into a standing position. "You didn't come to steal anything again, did you?"

"Actually... I followed you," said Red X, pointing to the splintered fragments of the boarded-up window. "Though... I decided to come in another way."

Robin and Red X both quickly looked behind the large wooden desk at the back of the room... during the fight, Voscoti had escaped, most likely by leaping out the second-floor window. The man Robin had come to interrogate was gone... but he _had _left an important source of information behind.

"His computer," said Red X, walking over to Voscoti's desk and unplugging the computer's mainframe, then picking it up and setting it down on the ground next to Robin. "I don't think he had time to wipe the hard drive like he did last time, so... any information that you wanted to get from _him_, you might be able to get from this."

Robin didn't care about the computer _or _about Voscoti, at least for the moment. It was Red X, the thief who'd once again shown up out of the blue, that Robin wanted to know about... why he was here, and why he'd decided to help the Boy Wonder, especially after all that had happened the previous night.

"Tell me... tell me why you came," said Robin, keeping his bo staff extended and ready.

"These people... they're responsible for what happened to Cleo," replied Red X, displaying little emotion in his voice as he spoke. "I want to take them down as much as you do..."

"So... you're helping us, then?" asked Robin. "I think we can handle these people on our own."

"And so can I," replied Red X, with a tone that indicated that he didn't care whether Robin wanted him helping or not. "But this way, we kick their asses even _quicker_... and there aren't any conflicts of interest like there were the last time you and I were in this office together. You remember _that_, don't you?"

Robin didn't dignify X's response with any sort of statement at all... he simply put away his staff and began walking toward the open window, going around the desk and staring out toward the sidewalk where he left his T-Cycle.

"You take the computer, and I'll meet you in the parking lot," said Robin, still having serious doubts about whether or not he wanted to work with Red X. Just the thought of he and the Titans' previous battle with Red X... and what X had done to Starfire, made Robin leery... though he knew that X wouldn't be trying anything like that any time soon, _especially _after what had happened to Cleo. _"Maybe that's what it took to bring him around... maybe he really is ready to be a hero..."_

Robin leapt out the window, and Red X dashed out of the office through the front door... leaving the unconscious guards lying on the ground. About a minute or two later, one of them began to stir... the man who'd seemingly been killed by a hail of bullets fired by his female comrade. He stared down at his chest, where all of the bullets were still lodged, and groaned painfully, picking them one by one out of his uniform... under which was concealed a thick bulletproof vest.

"Unnh... and they told me not to wear a flak jacket unless I was out on a job..." groaned the guard, dropping the last of the bullets to the floor. "She's gonna owe me some apology sex the next time I see her..."

And with that, the guard passed out again.

O-O-O

When Robin walked into the main room of Titans Tower, all five Titans were there waiting for him... though all except Starfire were watching television on the couch. Starfire herself was standing in the center of the room, facing the door as the Boy Wonder entered... and was the first to see that he'd brought a guest.

"Robin!... and... the Red X?"

"That's right, Starfire," said Red X, his arms starting to ache as he lugged the heavy mainframe of Voscoti's desktop computer into the room and set it down next to where Starfire was standing. "Looks like we're temporary friends again. How 'bout that."

The four Titans on the couch stood up and walked over to Robin and Red X, each of them surprised to see the thief in their tower again, especially after what had happened to Cleo the previous night.

"Look, I know you're all going to ask me about why I'm helping you guys, but-"

"Your mom's still letting you be Red X?" said Beast Boy, a surprised expression on his face. He, like the other Titans, had been told by Red X that he was going to let his mother and sister know about his secret... and none of them expected to see him again, at least for a great while, if at all. "Or did you just sneak out?"

"Well, she wasn't too happy about it, but I managed to convince her," said Red X, reaching up and taking off his mask. A layer of sweat had accumulated on his forehead, and he used his other hand to wipe it away, having exerted a lot of energy to carry Voscoti's mainframe for the past fifteen minutes. "You wouldn't believe how hard it is to lug that thing around..."

With a giggle, Starfire reached over and picked up the mainframe, lifting it up and down several times with the amount of effort that a normal human being would use to lift a pebble.

"It is not that terribly heavy..." said Starfire, setting down the mainframe and returning her attention to Sanza. "But it is wonderful that you have returned!"

"I'll see if I can lift any names off this thing," said Cyborg, carrying the computer's mainframe out of the room and taking it toward the elevator, intending to use the equipment in his own room to scan the computer's hard drive. "Anyone wanna come with?"

Robin immediately followed, wanting to be the first to know the identity of Sedaris' employer. As soon as Robin left, Sanza began walking over to the couch.

"I need to lie down for a few minutes... I can stay until you guys figure out whatever it is you wanted to know, or... I can leave if you want."

Raven stared at Sanza, her eyes narrowed, her arms across her chest, obviously having no reason to trust the thief, even if he and the Titans _did _share a common enemy.

"Sanza...?" said Starfire, gently touching him on the shoulder and causing him to stop. "Are you... are you feeling better after...?"

"I'm fine," he replied, briefly glancing back and giving Starfire a smile. "But thanks. I haven't talked to Cleo yet... she's probably still in the hospital... I'm pretty sure she won't be at school tomorrow either. I'm not going to talk to her until she's ready... I really don't think she wants to have anything to do with me for a while."

Terra could feel a twinge of sadness as she looked over at Sanza and thought of what he must've gone through... his friend being hurt because of his actions... she knew the feeling well. In fact, thought Terra, she and Sanza had quite a lot in common... and there were still some things that she wanted to discuss with him.

"Hey... Sanza?" called Terra, just as he began to walk toward the couch again. He turned to face her, and their eyes met. "You can rest in my room if you want..."

Sanza remembered how comfortable Terra's bed was from the _last _time he'd slept on it... which had been several months ago, when he'd assisted the Titans in their battle against Slade. Knowing that it was a _lot _more comfortable than the Titans' couch, he gave a quick nod and began walking with Terra toward the elevator. Beast Boy watched them curiously, but said nothing, knowing that Sanza was only at the Tower to help.

His attention returned to the television, and he leapt back onto the couch with an excited yell.

"You know that when Robin finds out who the bad guy is, we'll probably have to leave to go kick their butt," said Raven, an annoyed tone in her voice as she slowly walked back around to take her place on the couch next to Beast Boy. _"I just hope that the person Robin finds is the _only _bad guy we have to deal with..."_

Because unlike Starfire, who was happy to see Red X helping the team once again, Raven was far less sure about letting Red X work together with the team... even if his only motives were getting back at the people who'd hurt Cleo, she knew that anger was a terribly dangerous emotion.

O-O-O

As Sanza sat his mask down on Terra's dresser and gently climbed onto her bed, Terra watched him with curiosity and a bit of sympathy. She, unlike the other Titans, had never fought Red X before... and had she not heard about his previous battles with the team, she'd have likely thought him to be a hero, just like the others. Still, she knew that she had her own internal demons to wrestle with, and unlike Red X, she had succumbed fully to Slade's power of persuasion... she'd become Slade's apprentice, while Red X had somehow remained defiant, even with his family's lives at stake.

"This bed is way more comfortable than anything at _my _house," sighed Sanza, looking at the beautifully-painted walls of Terra's room and allowing the gentle sunlight beaming in through the window to shine upon his body. "And this wallpaper's as pretty as my sister's..."

Terra continued to watch Sanza for several seconds before slowly walking over to the bed and sitting down, her back leaning against the side as she craned her head up to speak to him.

"I... I have to ask you something, I've been meaning to ask you this since you told me about what happened with you and Slade, but... why didn't you agree to become his apprentice? I mean, he threatened your family... he attacked _you_... so..."

"I don't take orders from _anyone_," replied Sanza, pride in his voice as he spoke. "It's the same reason I'd never want to be a Teen Titan."

Sanza then bowed his head and closed his eyes as he gave Terra the _other _reason why he would never want to work for Slade.

"Also... I had to make Slade pay for hurting my family," said Sanza. "I made a promise to my father before he died that I would protect my mother and my sister... so when Slade hurt my family, I swore to myself that I would defeat him... I had a chance to destroy him, but... but it would've meant that I would be killed too."

Terra closed her eyes, remembering the exact moment that she'd decided to sacrifice herself to save the city from the volcanic eruption that she herself had caused. As a result, she'd been frozen in stone for nearly a year. A tremble briefly went through Terra's body, and she began to speak.

"I... I had to sacrifice myself... I caused the city to be placed in danger, so... it was the least I could do..."

Sanza could detect that Terra's voice was beginning to break, and he rolled over and looked down at her, concerned that she was starting to get uncomfortable with talking to him.

"That's... that's why I let myself be taken in by Slade. I couldn't control my powers, so I took the easy way out... and it turned all of my true friends against me. I wouldn't blame any of the Titans if they never forgave me for betraying them..."

Sanza, who had once called Terra weak for becoming Slade's apprentice, could begin to understand just why she'd joined up with him. Still, he knew that even if Slade had taught Terra to control her powers, it didn't mean that she couldn't just walk away... it wasn't as if she had anything to lose by running.

"You have no family, from what I can tell... nothing that Slade can take away from you, so... why didn't you just let him teach you, and then tell him to go fuck himself? That's what I don't understand, Terra..."

"Because I was afraid of him!" shouted Terra, anger surfacing in her voice. She stared right into Sanza's eyes, and a single tear rolled down the right side of her face. "You're right, I _know _you're right, I shouldn't have become his apprentice but I was scared of him, I was scared that he would hurt me, or hurt my friends... that he would hurt Beast Boy... I was so scared, and... and I..."

Sanza slid down from the bed and sat down next to Terra, gently reaching up and wiping the tears from her face.

"I... I hurt all of them... I hurt Beast Boy... I'm still afraid that all of them will reject me... I mean, he promised, and I... I thought... but then..."

"...I'm sorry, Terra..." Sanza said, trying to be as sympathetic as he could. He too knew how it felt to have his own friends rejecting him... Cleo's rejection was still a painful sting to Sanza, and he felt it even now, trying to fight back his own tears as he thought about all the things Cleo had gone through, and how she'd so painfully rebuked him. "I... I know how that feels..."

Terra sniffled, shaking her head and looking away from Sanza.

"_No... no, you don't... Cleo never promised like Beast Boy did... but... but you never hurt her like I did... you saved her and she still rejected you..."_

Terra knew that she was the only one who truly deserved to have been rejected... She knew what would happen if her friends found out that she was working for Slade, and when they reacted exactly as she knew they would, she _still _tried to kill them... Sanza had saved Cleo's life, and she'd paid him back by telling him that she hated him. That was _true _rejection.

"Sanza... sometimes I wish that when I'd been brought back to life, none of them had been around..."

"What do you mean by-?"

"Don't tell any of the others this," said Terra, turning back to Sanza and bowing her head, "but I... I just... I wanted a few days to be alone... to think about everything that I did before having to go back to them... and if I decided not to, I could just go off and start a new life, without any of them even knowing I'd been revived at all. I love Beast Boy, I really do, but every time I look at him, I remember what I did to him and I _hate _myself for it... somewhere inside me, there's a part of me that _wants _all of them to reject me... like... there's a part of me that wants me to be punished for everything I did."

Sanza began to speak, but he knew that he didn't have anything that he could say that could possibly make Terra feel better. This girl had been through many of the same things that he'd been through... fear, rejection, the possibility of self-sacrifice... and yet he couldn't think of any way to sympathize with her, even in her time of need.

His mind drifted back to Cleo again, and how much her rejection had hurt him. He loved Cleo, but he knew that Terra loved Beast Boy as well... and his rejection of her must've hurt just as much, if not more. What Terra needed was someone who would never, ever reject her... Beast Boy was definitely that person, thought Sanza, but Terra herself didn't believe it... and then, he began to feel as if he had to do something. He reached over and took Terra's hands in his own, and looked right into her eyes, making sure she had his full attention before he began to speak.

"Terra... whatever you do, whatever you say, whatever you decide... I don't care, I just want you to know that you'll always have a friend in me. You can talk to me about anything, and I promise I'll always listen. I know you've been rejected before, but... but so have I, and I just... I just want you to know that you'll always have a friend, no matter what. I promise."

"...thanks," said Terra, gently releasing Sanza's hands and looking away from him, a smile briefly crossing her face. She lifted her trembling hand to her lip, looking back toward Sanza, who gave her an understanding smile. "And... and you too... if you... if you wanna talk..."

Sanza nodded and stood up, stretching his arms over his head and reaching to pick up his mask from the dresser.

"Well... I thought I needed a nap, but I guess talking to you made me feel a lot better," said Sanza, smiling as he put the mask back on his face. "Remember, Terra... remember what I said."

Terra watched Red X until he left the room, then sat down at the side of her bed as the door slid closed. She didn't know why, but she could feel a strange sense of comfort as she kept going over Red X's words in her head. His promise had given her peace of mind... a peace that she hadn't felt since she'd kissed Beast Boy on the night after returning to the tower.

It was a peace that Terra was very grateful to have...

O-O-O

Robin had gathered the Titans and Red X in the main room after Cyborg had found the name of the man being employed by Sedaris. When he brought up Frederick Dullahan's profile on the main screen, Red X's eyes narrowed, and he could feel anger beginning to enter his body.

"That's the guy," said Red X, pointing at Dullahan's face. "The man behind it all... he's their leader, and he's probably in that building downtown right now, scheming with that bodyguard of his..."

"So why don't we go to that building and stop them?" shouted Beast Boy, obviously eager to take Dullahan down. "I mean, they're obviously dangerous! We gotta stop them before-"

"It's not that easy," said Red X, and Robin replied with a solemn nod.

"He's the CEO of one of the largest companies in the city... and we can't just bust up into his building and drag him out in handcuffs."

"Why not?" shouted Beast Boy, waving his hands in the air. "We've got evidence on that computer, right?"

"That computer just links him to Sedaris," said Cyborg.

"For us to be able to arrest him, we'd need hard evidence linking him to a plot to destroy the city," said Raven. "Most the villains we fight typically attack out in the open... they make a huge mess, and there are hundreds of witnesses to their crimes. This guy is different... to catch him, we'd need indisputable proof of a crime."

"And considering that four of his co-conspirators are deceased, we will not easily be able to find witnesses who will testify to his misdeeds..." said Starfire, a worried look on her face. For several seconds, the Titans thought amongst themselves, attempting to figure out a way that they could link Dullahan and Sedaris to the recent attempts to destroy Jump City.

It was Red X who came up with a solution... by returning to the very beginning.

"The quantum computer," said Red X, his hands on his hips. "It's got data on it about _everything _these guys have been planning... it was used to revive Terra, and it was probably used to coordinate the signal being sent out to the seismic generators."

"Of course!" said Starfire, her eyes lighting up. "And it is probably still in the ruins of the building that we were in last night!"

"I'm picking up some kinda signal from that building," said Cyborg, checking the scanner built into his arm. "Whatever it is, _something _survived the collapse..."

"Then we need to move!" said Robin. "Titans, go!"

O-O-O

The partially-collapsed LaredoSoft production facility was surrounded by firefighters and demolition workers, who were hastily clearing the glass, cement, and drywall ruins left by the destruction of the center third of the building. Standing in the center of the wreckage was a tall, well-dressed man, who was bent over, sifting through the smoldering ruins with a smile on his face. He stood up, holding a small, liquid-filled test-tube in his hand... the tube was completely undamaged, and the glass stopper holding the tube closed remained in place.

"There you are," said Sedaris, holding the glass tube up to the sunlight and inspecting the glow that refracted from the clear liquid. "I love black-box technology... who'd have thought that you could actually make glass from such material? Ah, the wonders of modern science..."

As Sedaris began walking out of the wreckage, casually striding past firefighters and men in bulldozers, he removed another marvel of technology from the inside pocket of his jacket... his cell phone. He held the phone to his lips and dialed Frederick Dullahan's number.

"I have the quantum computer, sir... I'm bringing it back to the Mycoso Building now."

"Very nice," came the voice over the phone. "You wouldn't believe how much money I had to pay out in bribes to keep people away from the part of the wreckage where the computer fell."

"I can only imagine, sir."

A helicopter lowered down into the parking lot, and Sedaris walked over and climbed inside, the craft lifting up into the air and swiftly making its way toward the skyscrapers of downtown Jump City.

Sedaris had beaten the Teen Titans by nearly thirteen minutes.

O-O-O

And so as one plan ends, another begins! Alliances are forged, and it's time for the final third of the story! But until then, keep sending in those reviews... I cherish every one of them!


	15. A Theft Revisited

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Teen Titans. If I did, this would be on TV and not here. 

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This doesn't take place in the same storyline as my "Forced Base" and "Fractured Heart" stories, so forget those when you're reading this. Also, about Sanza/Red X: When he's wearing the mask, he's Red X. When he's not, he's Sanza. Simple as that.

SECOND AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a sequel to "The Life and Times of Red X", which is in my profile. Read that before you read this. Also, this fic COMPLETELY IGNORES the events of the fifth season (with the exception of "Go"). For the purposes of this fic, "Things Change" NEVER HAPPENED.

O-O-O

"Scanner's not picking up anything from this area anymore..."

The Titans and Red X had begun sifting through the rubble of the Laredo production facility, having no idea that just minutes earlier, Sedaris had already taken the quantum computer back to the Mycoso Building. Cyborg's negative scan didn't dissuade Robin from ordering a thorough search of the entire debris pile, but after nearly a half-hour of searching, it became apparent that wherever the quantum computer was, it was no longer there.

"It may have been destroyed in the collapse," said Red X, sitting on a large stack of drywall panels and placing his elbows on his knees.

"That's impossible, I detected it just an hour ago!" said Cyborg, taking another look at his scanner. "It was right here!"

Starfire wasn't going to give up on Robin's request so easily, and while the other Titans were taking a rest, she was frantically digging, her strong arms rapidly clearing away the rubble while her sharp eyes search for any sign of the quantum computer. Though sweat was beginning to form on her brow, she continued to search determinedly. She stopped when Robin placed a hand on her shoulder, turning her head to look at him.

"Starfire... I don't think it's here," said Robin, disappointment clearly registering in his voice. "We need to go back to the Tower and figure out something else... this isn't going to work."

"But Robin... Cyborg's scanners detected that the quantum computer was here!" said Starfire, before starting to dig through the rubble again. "You may not believe that the computer is in this debris pile, but I do, and I know that if I just keep searching, I will eventually-"

"Starfire..."

Robin's voice was calm, understanding... and his gentle touch signaled to Starfire that she needed to return to the Tower with the rest of the Titans. Letting out a sigh, the Tamaranian girl nodded and rose to a standing position, turning and joining the rest of her friends as they slowly walked back toward the T-Car in the building's parking lot.

"I bet someone came here and took the quantum computer," said Red X suspiciously. "Right before we got here... someone knew that we were looking for it and they came and took it away..."

Walking beside Red X, Raven briefly looked over at him before taking a glance around the entire perimeter of the building.

"_That would explain why the computer wasn't here... but if someone removed the computer, Cyborg would've sensed that it was moved..." _thought Raven, now bowing her head as she tried to think of anything that could explain the movement of the quantum computer. _"There are some very sinister and powerful forces at work here... I just hope we can bring these last few people down before it's too late."_

O-O-O

Outside of the Salazars' apartment, the T-Car had stopped to let Red X out in front of the building. Without any leads as to the whereabouts of the quantum computer, there was currently no one to go after at the moment, and the thief certainly didn't want to hang around Titans Tower any longer than he had to.

"I want you to call me up if you manage to find something," said Red X, walking over to the T-Cycle, which Robin had stopped right behind the T-Car. He handed Robin a slip of paper. "That's... that's my home number. Don't abuse it."

"We'll keep in touch," said Robin, still having his suspicions about Red X's motives, but putting them aside for the purpose of bringing down their common enemy. "And if you find anything..."

"You know where I'll be," said the thief, walking toward the apartment's fire escape and dashing up the metal steps. The T-Car sped off into the night, and Terra, seated in the back, gave Red X one last look as he climbed into his window on the third floor.

"_Take care..." _thought the blonde geomancer, still remembering the encouraging words she'd received from Red X earlier in the day. Seated next to Beast Boy in the back of the car, she could feel his right arm pressing up against her left side, and as the car turned a corner and headed toward the bay, Terra turned to Beast Boy and gave him a smile. "He's... kinda nice, when you get to know him."

"Yeah, he's not a _bad _bad guy like Slade... I mean, he doesn't actually hurt anyone, he just... likes to steal. A lot."

Terra looked up at the ceiling of the T-Car and let out a sigh, remembering that when _she'd _become a villain, she did enjoy hurting others... she even attempted to kill the Teen Titans. Was that the real reason that Red X had refused to become Slade's apprentice? Because unlike Terra, he never actually wished to hurt anyone?

"_I was more evil than Red X was..."_

On the other side of Beast Boy, Raven sat staring out the window, her chin resting on her left hand. For a brief moment, she could feel a strong negative emotion, and knew that once again, Terra was having a crushing moment of guilt and self-doubt. She glanced over at Terra and then returned her attention to the window, a hint of worry creeping up in her own mind as well.

"_Be strong, Terra... be strong for Beast Boy's sake... you know how much he needs you..."_

O-O-O

When Sanza emerged from his room, changed out of the Red X costume and wearing a red tanktop and a baggy pair of blue jeans, he could sense a wonderful smell drifting upward from the kitchen, and rushed down the stairs to see exactly what it was. He found his mother standing in front of the stove, cooking a generous amount of taco meat in a pan on one of the burners. She gave Sanza a smile as he entered the room, while Maddy, watching television in the living room, greeted him with a casual 'hey, Sanza'.

"You know, I saw the Titans' car pull up in front of the house," said Maria, using a wooden spoon to stir spicy ground meat in the metallic pan as she spoke. "I thought they usually took criminals that they caught off to _jail_."

"Ha ha, that's pretty funny," Sanza replied, peering over his mother's shoulder. "Actually, I'm helping them out now... there's a group of people trying to destroy the city, and we've gotta get some evidence so we can put them in jail."

Maria continued facing the stove, still having serious doubts about allowing her son to continue his lifestyle as Red X. Even if he _was _fighting for the side of good, Maria knew that Sanza was still putting his life in serious danger... and perhaps even endangering Maddy and herself as well. It would certainly take a while for Maria to get used to the fact that her son would be fighting alongside the Teen Titans... just a few days ago, she'd believed Sanza to be just another ordinary high school student with a few devoted friends and a bit of an attitude streak... she never dreamed that her son would one day become so much more.

"You... you remember to always be careful, Sanza... I want you to be safe, that's the important thing. You're my precious child, and..."

"Mom... I promise, I'm going to be all right," replied Sanza, punctuating his promise by kissing his mother on the cheek. "Just make sure to have supper ready for me when I get back from fighting crime."

With a cry of mock indignation, Maria set down her wooden spoon and turned to face Sanza, her hands on her hips.

"Now, just because you're a bigshot crimefighter now does _not _mean that I'm your slave, got it? I'm your mother and you're going to do what I say... and supper is when I say it is. If you're not back by the time it's done, then you'll get nothing for the night and you'll like it!"

Sanza, who could tell that his mother was joking, simply smiled and sat down at the kitchen table, laying his head down and waiting for Maria to finish cooking. Maria picked up her wooden spoon and continued stirring, while looking up toward the ceiling and issuing a silent prayer.

"_God... please watch over my son... keep him safe and make sure he always fights with goodness in his heart... Amen."_

O-O-O

A large, steady hand placed the durable glass test tube in a small, narrow hole built into the top of a tall, white pedestal. The pedestal stood in a room lit entirely with bright, blue light, a square room with white walls and crisscrossed by red lasers designed to alert everyone in the building to the presence of any person besides the only two men authorized to be in the room... Frederick Dullahan and Alex Sedaris.

"It's good to be returning the quantum computer to its rightful home," said Sedaris, turning to his employer and standing proudly in front of the pedestal. "And that is where it will stay... at least until it is ready to be moved again."

"In only a few days, the city will be completely destroyed... and this time, there's no way that the Teen Titans or that damned thief will screw it up," said Dullahan, staring at the test tube for several seconds before turning toward the door built into the room's front wall. He pressed his hand against the panel, causing the door to quickly slide open. "As for you and I... you did get those opera tickets I requested for the both of us tomorrow, didn't you?"

"Absolutely, sir," replied Sedaris, following Dullahan out of the room. As soon as he had exited, the door slid closed behind the two men. They began walking down a long, narrow hallway, passing through several more sliding security doors before returning to the main lobby of the Mycoso Building's 58th floor.

"Very good." The two men walked several more seconds before reaching a set of polished, wooden double doors, much different from the sliding glass panels that guarded the quantum computer. This set of double doors merely required a key to open, and soon, the two men were walking into Frederick Dullahan's plush, spacious office, complete with a carpeted red floor, small marble statues of Greek gods and goddesses placed strategically around the perimeter, and a large desk with a single leather chair sitting behind it. As soon as the door to the office was closed, Dullahan began to speak again. "The drill's been working for two weeks, correct?"

"That's right, it's getting very close to the point where the earthquakes can be triggered."

For several weeks, Dullahan's company had been in control of an enormous drilling device mounted several miles off the coast of Jump City. The drill was, of course, a last resort, a contingency plan in case the plans of Nicholas Jarvin and Dr. Ruell didn't go as scheduled. Both plans had failed spectacularly, but Frederick Dullahan was sure that his own plan, the most destructive and secretive of the three that the original group of six had concocted would work.

Far more confident of the plan, however, was Sedaris... and his plan took Dullahan's a step further. He had wanted to use the drill to cause more than just the destruction of Jump City... but his employer had rebuked him, wanting, at least for the moment, to keep the plan limited in scale. It was a point on which Sedaris had challenged Dullahan many times... but every single time, he'd been refused.

"Now, you'll be in charge of keeping operations at the drilling site secure... I will maintain remote control of the actual earthquakes themselves, for obvious reasons," stated Dullahan, walking over to his desk and looking up at Sedaris, who stood just across from him on the other side. "I trust that you will be able to handle anything that should come up."

"Of course," replied Sedaris, looking at his employer with one eye while keeping his other eye gazing at the window... from which the bay and the ocean could clearly be seen. "Just leave everything to me..."

O-O-O

Unlike the previous day, this day had not been very productive for the Teen Titans, who only had a couple of names to show for their efforts. The quantum computer had slipped through their fingers, and if there _was _an imminent threat to Jump City, the team was no closer to stopping it... even Beast Boy, the most optimistic of the group, couldn't be very happy with the day's events. He lay in his bed, staring up at the ceiling, thinking of all that had happened that day. The only _good _thing, in the changeling's eyes, was that Red X had shown up to help the group... but then again, Beast Boy knew that the thief could turn on a moment's notice.

"_Just like Terra..." _thought Beast Boy, instantly shaking his head to remove the thought from his mind. _"What? No... no, Terra would never betray the team again! C'mon, Beast Boy, she's just been back a few days, and you're already... she's COUNTING on you... remember what Raven said..."_

It was Raven who had given Beast Boy advice on numerous occasions throughout the week, and once Terra had returned, it was Raven who let him know how Terra was thinking... and that he needed to reassure her that everything was going to be okay.

"_Terra's feeling better every day," _thought Beast Boy, remembering how happy Terra looked when the two had spoken earlier that day, both in the Tower and in the T-Car. _"She's slowly getting over what happened to her... and I've gotten over it too."_

The door to Beast Boy's room slid open, and he sat up as the lights went on, almost expecting to see Terra standing in his doorway... but instead, it was Raven. She used her telekinesis to clear a path for herself through the trash and clothing strewn on the floor of Beast Boy's room and slowly walked over to him, stopping at the foot of his bed.

"Raven?" said Beast Boy nervously. "What... what do you-"

"Terra's still feeling uneasy... I could sense it in the car on the way home," said Raven. "Did she seem troubled when she talked to you?"

Beast Boy shook his head, his eyes widening as he thought about what Raven was telling him. Whenever _he'd _spoken to Terra, at least recently, it didn't seem like there was anything wrong... then again, Raven was an empath, and a lot better equipped to find out if there was anything wrong with Terra than Beast Boy was.

"I... I guess I could go talk to her again," said Beast Boy. Almost immediately, Raven shook her head. "But... but didn't you say she was-"

"She's trying to keep it hidden from you because she doesn't want _you _to feel any worse, Beast Boy... she's trying to deal with her feelings privately so you don't have to bear the burden of seeing her in distress."

"But... but I said... I said she could tell me anything, right?"

Of course he did... but then he found out about Terra working for Slade, and immediately condemned her. Beast Boy knew that he hadn't given Terra any real indication that she could trust him with some of her secrets, despite their friendship, despite the fact that they might be in love. Terra didn't want to hurt Beast Boy's feelings again by letting him know that she was sad. He knew that... and he also knew that Raven didn't want to see Terra hurt him again.

"Raven... Terra said that you... that you were really worried about me," said Beast Boy, slowly crawling toward the foot of the bed to get closer to Raven. "I... I remember everything you said to me after she was turned to stone... and I guess I never thanked you for any of that."

Raven was rapidly becoming uneasy herself, and as Beast Boy drew closer to her, she took a step back, unsure of exactly how she should respond to what her friend was saying. Any sort of emotional situation such as this was uncomfortable for Raven, who had to be careful to keep her emotions under control at all times... deep down, she was truly happy to receive Beast Boy's gratitude, but outwardly, any show of emotion would have to be carefully thought out.

"You needed it, Beast Boy. I was just worried that you might... not be Beast Boy anymore after going through something like that. It hurts to lose someone you care about... I just wanted to make sure that you'd be okay."

Though Raven had tried to remain emotionally neutral, there was a deep-seeded caring in her voice as she spoke, and Beast Boy could pick up on that, if only faintly. He knew that deep down, Raven truly cared about him as a friend... and he began to wonder if perhaps Raven trusted him with her true feelings even more than Terra did.

"I think I'll be fine, Raven... I'm just worried about how Terra's feeling, that's all..."

From the sad look on Beast Boy's face, it was clear that all Raven had managed to do was worry him... maybe she shouldn't have let him know that Terra wasn't doing well. He had an emotional bond with her, and whenever she was sad, _he _was sad... Raven was doing Beast Boy no favors by informing him of Terra's latest bout with melancholy.

"I shouldn't have said anything," said Raven, turning away from Beast Boy and back toward the door of his room. "I'm sorry..."

Immediately, Beast Boy reached out with his hand and touched Raven's shoulder. She turned to look back at him, and he gave her a smile, attempting to cheer her up... or at least make her feel as if she hadn't totally screwed up.

"It's okay... I know Terra's still feeling down... she'll get over it and be back to her old cheerful self again in no time! Then I can get her to give _you _a few pointers..."

"...thanks, Beast Boy," said Raven, her eyes narrowing and her frown growing bigger. "It's good to know I need lessons on feeling happiness. If you need me, I'll be in my room. _Don't _come into my room."

And with that, Raven left, having been annoyed once again by one of Beast Boy's attempts to make her laugh. He'd been trying to make Raven happier... and while it seemed to have only gotten her angry, Beast Boy knew that at least now, Raven didn't feel like a screw-up.

"_Always works..." _thought Beast Boy, a smile starting to form on his face. _"Thanks again, Raven..."_

Beast Boy didn't consciously know it, but at times it seemed as if he cared about Raven's emotions as much as he cared about Terra's...

O-O-O

As Sanza walked through the halls of his school on Monday morning, there was one person's face that he never expected to see... but just before reaching his first-period class, a person walked out of the woman's restroom, and when her eyes met Sanza's, both of them stopped completely in their tracks, Sanza nearly falling down as the shock briefly overwhelmed his senses.

Dressed in a green sweater and a pair of blue jeans and wearing very little, if any makeup at all, was Cleo, her red hair messy and disheveled, hanging all over her face. She narrowed her eyes at Sanza, the hatred for him still apparent in her sullen glare.

"Cleo? I..."

Sanza could barely form a single word, because whenever he tried to speak, visions of Cleo from two nights ago began to fill his head. Tears began forming in his eyes as he remembered every hateful word Cleo had spoken to him... everything that he knew must have happened to her.

"Sanza..."

Sanza found himself walking over to Cleo, his legs wobbling as he rapidly closed the gap between the redhead and himself. She stood her ground, not turning away even as he stood just a couple of feet in front of her, his eyes barely able to remain on her own for even a moment before they would look away, or Sanza would bow his head toward the ground.

"Cleo, I just... I just wanted to say... I'm sorry, and-"

"Stop right there," Cleo replied, leaning in close to Sanza and whispering in his ear. He could see tears already running down the sides of her face, and as she spoke, he knew that she was still extremely angry with him... and almost afraid to be anywhere near him. "The only reason that I don't turn you in to the police is because you _did _save my life... so you just keep right on being Red X... running around putting your friends' lives in danger... you just keep doing that, but I never want to see you again... I never want to speak to you, look at you... I don't want you looking at me in class, sitting by me in lunch, walking by my house..."

Sanza, who still felt love for Cleo in his heart, began to speak, but she immediately cut him off and kept right on whispering angrily into his ear.

"No, I don't care if you quit being Red X... I never want to look at you again... I hate you... you ruined my life and if you ever say another word to me again, I'll let everyone know who you really are, Sanza! You miserable bastard, get the hell away from me!"

And for the second time in two days, Cleo slapped Sanza across the face. Before the sting of the slap had even started to fade, the girl was long gone, storming down the hallway without even looking back at Sanza. It was now quite clear that the relationship... the friendship was truly, irrevocably over... and there was nothing that Sanza could say or do to change that. He could only hope that Cleo would recover from what had happened to her... with or without him by her side.

As he bowed his head and began walking again toward his first-period class, his cheek still aching from Cleo's slap, he heard two voices behind him, one male and one female... both of them quite concerned with what had just happened to Sanza.

"Hey... what was that all about, man?" asked Rob, as gently as he could. "Did you guys break up over the weekend?"

"No shit, Sherlock," said Marcy, elbowing Rob in the side and walking around to face Sanza. "It's all right... can you tell us what-"

"It was my fault," replied Sanza, not wanting to have anything to do with _any _of his friends at the moment. He started to walk around Marcy, but she stuck out her hand to stop him, and Rob gently spun him back around. "Guys, I don't wanna talk about this right now. Cleo's had a rough weekend, so have I... just give me my space right now, okay?"

"Aw... don't feel bad, Sanza..." said Rob, trying as best as he could to cheer up his best friend.

"That's right, there's plenty of other girls in this school!" added Marcy, gently reaching up to touch the spot on Sanza's cheek where Cleo had slapped him. "And you're a really handsome guy... I'm sure there are girls just dying to be with someone like you!"

"Yeah... everybody fantasizes about having a Latin lover!"

"ROB!" Marcy almost shrieked, walking around and playfully beating him on the chest with her fists. Letting out a loud sigh, Sanza managed to crack a hint of a smile, grateful that at least _some _of his friends were still loyal to him.

"Thanks, guys... I... I still need time to get over _this_, though."

"Well, if you need to talk to anybody..."

"Don't talk to Rob, he's an insensitive jerk," said Marcy, reaching over and placing her hand over her boyfriend's mouth. "Talk to me, I personally know several girls in this school who have their eyes on you and would be super happy to know you're available."

"_Oh yeah, real sensitive..." _thought Rob, rolling his eyes. Sanza chuckled a bit before turning away from his friends and heading back down the hallway, while Rob gently pushed Marcy's hand away from his face and placed it back at her side. "You know, there are better ways to shut me up, you know."

"Like what?" asked Marcy, before Rob almost immediately wrapped his arms around her and gave her a kiss. She squealed out of surprise, but didn't try to pull away, wrapping her arms around Rob's back and reciprocating the kiss with an equal amount of excitement. Sanza took a look back at the two as he entered the classroom, sighing again, almost jealous of his friend Rob for having such a wonderful companion in Marcy.

"_I don't need to be thinking of love right now anyway..." _thought Sanza, sitting down toward the back of the class and setting his backpack next to his chair. _"I've got too much to think about without having something like that to distract me... I've got a city to help save."_

O-O-O

As soon as he'd gotten home, Sanza had retired to his room to think of just where the quantum computer had been taken to. He knew that someone had gotten to it before the Titans had been able to search for it in the rubble... most likely someone working for Dullahan and Sedaris, or perhaps even one of the two men themselves.

"_Sedaris I know isn't afraid to do his own dirty work... I'm surprised I didn't see him when the Titans and I went to take down the Jarvins..."_

He still associated Sedaris closely with Cleo's abduction, despite the fact that it had been Lonnie Jarvin who actually raped her. Ever since he'd been soundly defeated by Sedaris in that shopping center parking lot, he'd wanted another shot at the young, burly bodyguard... even if he was tougher to beat than Slade. The thought of Slade made Sanza tremble, but Sedaris, despite the fact that he might be even stronger than Slade was, was a welcome challenge for the young thief... if only because Sedaris' arrogance might prove to be a glaring weakness.

But in order to get to Sedaris, Sanza knew that he had to figure out just where the quantum computer was... the computer that had caused him to become Red X again in the first place. He'd undertaken his first mission in several months to steal the computer, and had failed miserably... having been sent fleeing from the Mycoso Building with his tail between his legs.

It was then that Sanza got an epiphany... if the computer had been in the Mycoso Building once, then... perhaps it would be there again.

"_They _did _have great security there last time... stopped me in my tracks..."_

If the computer was back at the Mycoso Building, then Sanza knew he would have a tough task ahead of him... but this time, he'd know what he was up against, and his skills wouldn't be quite so rusty. This time, he would be successful...

"I'm going back to that building... but I'm going to need backup."

O-O-O

A half-hour later, Red X was back at Titans Tower, explaining his plans to Robin, Cyborg, and Starfire, who had all been gathered in the main room.

"Trust me, I already scanned that building along with the rest of the city... the computer's signal is off the map."

"I have a different idea," said Robin, turning toward the computer console and running a different kind of search. "I'm going to check the signals given off by all the skyscrapers downtown..."

"What will that accomplish?" asked Starfire, peering over Robin's shoulder as he ran his search.

"The reason that Cyborg can't scan for the computer may be because the antenna of one of these buildings is giving off a jamming frequency," said Robin, comparing the frequencies of all the downtown buildings to look for any abnormal readings. "I may have missed something yesterday... I'll try going into a bit more detail."

"I'm telling you, if my scanner was being jammed, I would know," said Cyborg, staring up at the screen as several sequences of green numbers and letters rapidly flashed by. Suddenly, one of the number sequences lit up in bright blue, and Robin triggered an immediate pause on the screen. Scrolling back several pages, he went carefully over the blue letters and numbers before managing to discern where they originated from.

"The Mycoso Building," said Robin, staring up at the screen.

"I knew it," replied Red X, his arms crossed over his chest. "I can steal the quantum computer and bring it back here... I just need you guys to back me up. Hack into the cameras and make sure I'm not being followed by any guards... I can do the rest."

X's confident tone was in stark contrast to the uneasiness that Robin was feeling about allowing X to go and steal from a corporate building... even if it was for a good cause.

"How do I know you won't just take that computer and keep it for yourself?" asked Robin. "I know you say that you want to bring these guys down, but... I don't feel good about helping you steal something."

"You won't lose any sleep," replied Red X. "Besides, even if I _do _keep the computer after you get all the evidence off of it... what's wrong with that? Guys who do drugs get their stuff taken by the police all the time. You call it stealing, I call it asset forfeiture."

"That's way different and you know it!" shouted Robin, pointing a finger in Red X's face. Cyborg immediately stepped between the two of them, his arms extended out to keep them away from each other.

"Robin, you know that Red X is the only one who can get that computer out of the building, and he needs our help to clear out the guards."

"All of this fighting will merely endanger Red X... if he cannot trust us to protect him, then how will he be able to successfully retrieve the quantum computer?"

Cyborg and Starfire both wanted Robin to allow the mission... and Robin _did _want the quantum computer, he just didn't fully trust Red X to get it to the team. Not only that, but the thought of helping Red X steal _anything _went against what Robin had made himself out to be as a hero... still, he knew that his teammates were right. Red X was the best person for the job, and he'd already gotten close to stealing the quantum computer before.

"All right... we've got your back," said Robin, his voice returning to normal. "But once you get that quantum computer, you bring it straight back here..."

Red X smiled beneath his mask, secretly relieved that the Titans had agreed to help him steal... as for bringing back the quantum computer, he knew that there would be no way for the Titans to stop him if he actually wanted to steal it for himself. He had their trust, and with the Titans' help, the guards would be powerless to do anything about him...

"One more thing," said Red X, his hands on his hips. "In order to stay in contact with you guys, I'll need one of your communicators..."

As Red X was speaking, one of the entrances to the main room had slid shut, and someone was walking toward the couch. Robin turned toward Red X and reached toward his belt, reluctantly ready to hand over his communicator, at least temporarily, to the thief... but, as he would soon find out, he wouldn't have to.

"You can borrow mine," said Terra, her voice coming from behind the couch. Red X turned to see the blonde holding her communicator out to him, a calm look on her face. "Just... be careful."

"Don't worry," said Red X calmly, reaching out to take the communicator from Terra's outstretched hand. "I won't let this thing get busted."

"I mean... _you _be careful, Sanza," said Terra, knowing that the thief was about to embark on a dangerous mission. Before he could respond, Starfire immediately chimed in with her own words of caution.

"Yes, please return safely... you are taking a great risk in attempting a mission that you once failed."

Red X shrugged his shoulders, clipping the communicator to his waist and walking toward the front door of the tower without a word. He could feel nervousness growing in his body, but managed to stave it off by thinking of the people who cared about him... his family at home... his friends... even the Titans. He remembered Starfire's kindness, and Terra's concern... and took one last look at Terra before making his way out of the room.

"I'll come back," he said, waving at the Titans, but mostly at Terra, whose beauty the thief was starting to notice even more... especially after Cleo had broken up with him. His thoughts of Terra were interrupted by Robin, who called out to Red X just before the door closed behind him.

"You know what your job is... _don't make me regret trusting you..._"

O-O-O

The thief entered the Mycoso Building just as he had done the last time, going through the parking garage to reach a working elevator, and climbing up the elevator cable to reach the 57th floor of the building, where the computer had once been kept. He emerged in the very same filing room that he'd phased into on his previous trip to the building, and after a quick check to make sure there was no one in the room, he emerged into the hallway, which at this hour of the early evening was well-lit. It was five-thirty, and most of the workers had left the office about a half-hour earlier... but there was still the occasional worker milling about, and whenever X saw someone coming, he had to phase into the wall, disappearing into another room until the person had walked by and the coast was clear.

"_If I remember where to go, then the computer is on this floor..."_

The thief quickly made his way to the lobby just outside the Advanced Research and Development wing of the building. It was in this lobby that he'd fought a giant, scorpion-like robot created by Nicholas Jarvin to keep any would-be thieves from getting to the quantum computer... on this occasion, however, there was no such robot, and Red X had an easy path to the room where he expected the computer to be.

He passed easily through several security doors, walking past the familiar rows of offices on the way to where he'd been stopped on his last visit, the laser-guarded door at the back of the research wing.

"_No guards?" _thought Red X, standing in front of the laser door and looking behind him to make sure that no one was watching. _"I mean, it's still bright out, but... one would think that they'd _always _have rooms like this carefully guarded. Ah well... their loss."_

He knelt down to the right of the door, the tips of his fingers lighting up as he pressed them against a black electronic panel just above his head. The panel began scanning his hand, and the xynothium on his gloves reacted immediately, forming fake fingerprints that signaled to the panel's AI that the thief's fingerprints matched those programmed into the database. The lasers guarding the door continued to glow, but another slot just above the panel opened, revealing a tiny black lens. X stood up and stared straight into the lens, which transmitted a laser that hit the material in front of Sanza's eye and was diffracted and reshaped to read his eye as the eye of someone who was authorized to enter. The slot above the panel closed, and the laser's guarding the door slid away. X stood in front of the door, which opened to reveal... a completely empty room.

"...the fuck?" muttered Red X, walking into the empty room where the quantum computer had once been placed, and looking around for several seconds to make sure it hadn't been tucked away in some hidden corner of the room that the thief had no knowledge of. He immediately took out the communicator that Terra had given him and opened it up.

O-O-O

Back in the main room of Titans Tower, all six members of the team had gathered to monitor Red X's progress. Raven had been able to hack into the building's camera system, including the camera placed in the very room where Red X was standing.

"Was that where the computer was before?" asked Robin, opening his own communicator to speak with the thief.

"This is the room, but now... they must have it somewhere else in the building," replied Red X, who could be seen on the camera standing in the middle of the room, looking down into his communicator. "Why the hell didn't you tell me it wasn't in here?"

"You didn't tell us you came in here to find it!" said Robin, a hint of anger in his voice. "You haven't said anything to us at all since you got inside the building!"

"Robin..." said Starfire, attempting to calm down her friend before addressing Red X herself. "We do not see the quantum computer in any of the rooms in the building... whatever room that they have it in does not have a camera."

Red X let out a long sigh, realizing that his task had just gotten a lot harder. He had _no _idea where the quantum computer was in the building, and even though he had the Titans to watch his back, searching the whole building for the computer's whereabouts would be a long, arduous process.

"I'm just gonna go up to the top floor and search," said Red X, his back turned to the room's entrance. In the main room of Titans Tower, the Titans' scan of nearby rooms had caught something moving rapidly toward the thief's location.

"There's something moving down the hall, through one of the security doors," said Raven, pointing up at the top-right section of the screen. "It's gone now..."

"I see it too, it just moved into the next room, but it's going really fast!" shouted Cyborg, glancing up at the section of screen just below the one Raven was pointing to. "Robin, you'd better warn X that there's something coming his way!"

But before any of the Titans could warn the thief, the section of screen that depicted the room X was standing in suddenly turned to static. The Titans let out an audible gasp.

"What's going on?" shouted Terra, her eyes widening and her voice lined with fear. "Red X is in trouble!"

O-O-O

While the Titans' indication of Red X's current state of distress had come in the form of static, the revelation had come in a much more dramatic form for Red X... in the form of a foot-long arrow, silver tip glistening ahead of a bright green shaft, embedded into the wall and sending a stream of sparks issuing from the room's destroyed surveillance camera. The thief immediately turned around, gasping at what he saw.

Red X was facing an enormous green robot, standing nearly twelve feet tall. The robot had taken on the appearance of a centaur, its bottom painted green while its human segment had a silvery glow, its arms extended to hold a large, green bow. Another arrow had been placed in it, and it was drawn back, the arrow's tip pointed right at the thief's head.

"I am Sagittarius Gamma," came a loud, booming voice from the mouth of the robotic centaur's humanoid front, "and I have been re-programmed by Sedaris to destroy all intruders."

The centaur robot fired another arrow, and Red X dodged to the right, barely able to get out of the way as the arrow whizzed past him and embedded itself in the wall. He glanced over and saw that the robot had completely filled up the doorway... in fact, it had actually crashed through, knocking out part of the frame of the door as its large body jammed into the room.

"_I've got nowhere to run and not much room to dodge, either," _thought Red X, watching in horror as another arrow emerged from the robot's chest, right into the humanoid section's arms and automatically loading into the bow. "Dammit!"

Instead of attempting to dodge the next arrow that came toward him, the thief raised his arms and formed a large, metallic, X-shaped shield. The arrow flew at Red X, piercing the center of the shield, which managed to stop the arrow, but not until it had completely penetrated the shield and was sticking two inches out of it.

"_It punched right through the metal..." _thought Red X, immediately putting down the shield and rolling to the left, doing another arrow before it could hit him. He raised his arms and blasted the centaur right in its face with several exploding Xs, which caused it to rear up on its back legs. _"Now's my chance!"_

Seeing a gap between the robot's legs and the room's exit, Red X attempted to dive underneath, doing a baseball slide through the gap. Unfortunately for him, he was about halfway through the slide when the centaur's front legs came down... right on his chest.

"OH MY GOD!" gasped Red X, letting out a loud, painful scream as he felt an intense crushing sensation pressing down on his heart. He immediately felt blood forming in his mouth, and his eyes widened as he realized that he severely miscalculated his slide. _"I'm done for..."_

The centaur robot's front legs continued pressing down on the thief's chest, rapidly pushing all the blood out of his lungs and putting an immense amount of weight on his ribs. In a desperate move, the young thief extended his arms and formed another X, this one designed to grab four different objects and then snap forward, pulling all of the objects together. The ends of the X hit the robot's legs at the ankles, providing just enough force to bring the legs up and off of Red X's chest. He rolled out from under the robot and emerged into a long, hallway, out of the room where he had believed the quantum computer to be, but clearly not out of danger.

"That... hurt... so much..." stammered Red X, weakly climbing to his feet and clutching his chest in pain. "Oh my god... aaaagh..."

As Sagittarius Gamma reared back again, the sticky X that had been trying to pull its legs together broke and dissolved, allowing it to turn around and face the thief, who was making his retreat by walking backwards down the hallway.

"Now I'm the one with a lot of ground to give..." said Red X quietly, his breathing still shallow as he looked behind him to see a wide-open doorway. _"I can beat this thing... I just need to concentrate..."_

Back in Titans Tower, Red X had walked back into the view of a working camera, and the Titans could catch a glimpse of both him and the large mechanical beast coming slowly toward him.

"He's okay!" shouted Beast Boy happily, though he _wasn't _too happy to see the robotic monstrosity that had apparently been the reason that the Titans temporarily lost sight of Red X. "Ugh... maybe not for long..."

"That thing came on so quickly, we couldn't see it..." said Terra, her hands weakly pressed to her lips as she watched Red X slowly make his way back down the hall. _"He looks hurt... what happened to him?"_

More arrows were fired toward Red X, who avoided most of them by jumping into the air or dodging to the side. He backed into another hallway, making his way past several offices at the large centaur continued its lumbering march toward him, clearly lusting for the intruder's blood.

"You cannot escape," stated the robot, its loud voice coming in an inhuman monotone. "Surrender or die."

"Funny, I was about to say the same thing to you," said Red X, firing several explosive Xs up at the ceiling and triggering the hallway's sprinkler system, showering the robot with water. It continued marching forward, but the thief had expected that it would take more than a short circuit to stop Sagittarius Gamma... which is why he decided to increase the intensity of the charge. "You're right where I want you now."

The thief blasted the floor right underneath the centaur with an X that created a powerful electrical charge, a charge that was multiplied by the fact that the robot was standing in a large puddle of water. Huge bolts of electricity came shooting upward from where the X had been fired, and this time, the robot _did _stop... and smoke began pouring rapidly from its metallic frame.

"F...fatal error..." came the robot's monotone voice, its bow lowering to its side as its head drooped limply. "Massive circuit overload..."

Stopping only to mock the robot with a display of the middle finger, Red X turned and dashed out of the hallway, exiting from the research wing and dashing through the lobby, turning to the right and climbing into the first elevator that he saw. He pressed the button for the 58th floor, and in seconds, he was in a new area of the building, the elevator door opening to reveal a long, well-lit hallway lined with several executive offices. As soon as he stepped out of the elevator, he could hear Robin's voice coming from his communicator.

"I see you dealt with the security robot," said Robin.

"Yeah, it was pretty simple for anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of electrical physics..."

"There are security guards all over your floor," said Robin. "The hallway that you're in right now is one of the only empty spots in the area, and there are several guards coming toward it. We're not the only ones who can see you on these cameras, you know."

Without saying a word, Red X placed his communicator back on his waist belt and turned to the left, running as quickly as he could and preparing for an engagement with several guards. As soon as he could see movement around the corner, he fired an X that hit the wall at the end of the hallway. When four guards emerged, their guns ready to fire, the X disappeared and a large, X-shaped piece of drywall toppled over them, allowing the thief to simply walk over the downed men and turn the corner.

"That was good, but there are several more guards right in front of you," said Robin, stating a reality that Red X was already well-aware of, having turned right into the barrels of four more guns.

"Hands above your head!"

"Okay," said Red X, blasting the ceiling with four Xs, from which dropped down long red chains that wrapped themselves around the guards' arms, ripping the guns from their hands and pulling them upward, suspending them by the wrists. "Oh, wait... you guys were probably talking to _me_. My bad."

X ran around the incapacitated guards and turned to the right, pushing through a large glass doorway and running down another corridor that was packed with guards. This time, instead of using his gadgets, the thief decided to fight his way through with fists and feet, delivering an assortment of kicks and chops to six guards who were rushing forward to stop him. As soon as he had cleared these guards, he pushed through another glass doorway and emerged into a large, spacious, carpeted lobby... with two guards standing on either side of the entrance through which Red X had emerged. Before they could point their guns at him, he leapt into the air and swung his legs outward, catching both men in the chin and dropping them unconscious to the floor. The only other person in the room, a receptionist with a pretty face and an orange ponytail, stood up and waved her arms in the air, her eyes wide with fear.

"Please!" shouted the receptionist, trembling and looking Red X right in the eyes. "I've been attacked by Control Freak, Mumbo, the Hive, Kardiak, Dr. Light, Killer Moth, Adonis, Mad Mod, and you on several occasions, and I really, really, really, REALLY don't want any trouble!"

Shooting the receptionist a quizzical look, Red X walked toward her and leaned on her desk, looking at her with his head planted firmly in his hands.

"Have you ever tried going into a line of work that _doesn't _involve supervillains attacking you?"

"B...b...believe me, I've tried..." squeaked the terrified woman, taking several steps back and pressing herself against the wall. "Um... I've always wanted to be a ballerina...!"

"Good. Do that," said Red X, turning around and taking out his Titan communicator. The main lobby had five exits, as well as an elevator... he wanted to know for sure which way he should be headed. "Robin, I'm in the top floor lobby... there's five doors leading out-"

"Are you sure there's five?" asked Robin, checking all of the camera feeds that he was receiving from the top floor.

"Camera's only showing rooms leading from _four _exits," said Raven, "and the two cameras both mounted in the main room show four doors as well."

"Maybe there's a blind spot..." said Red X, his eyes now focused on the clear, sliding glass doorway built into a wall just to the thief's right. "There's two glass double doors and two wooden double doors in this room... I need to know what's behind the lobby's single glass sliding door."

"I do not see that door on any of the camera feeds..." said Starfire, realizing immediately that _that _was the door resting in X's so-called 'blind spot'. "That must be the door where-"

"The quantum computer, got it," said Red X, immediately putting away his communicator and walking toward the sliding glass door. As soon as he was a few feet away from it, the receptionist meekly called out to him.

"You're... you're not supposed to go in there... Mr. Dullahan-"

"Mr. Dullahan's a criminal, and I suggest you get out of the building," said Red X, pressing his hand against the keycode panel next to the door and sending an electrical charge through the panel that triggered it to slide open. "Right now, you're on the wrong team..."

O-O-O

After passing through several glass security doors, the same doors that Dullahan and Sedaris had passed through the previous day, Red X found himself with only one door between him and the quantum computer... a single red door at the end of a long, well-lit hallway. He smiled to himself, casually walking toward the door and thinking of all the trouble he'd gone through to get this far... he knew that the object he was seeking, the quantum computer, lay behind this last door... and though the Titans could no longer detect the presence of any guards, it didn't matter to Red X... he'd beaten back twenty guards on this floor already, and if any more were coming, he'd simply phase through the floor. Once he had the quantum computer in hand, the guards no longer mattered.

"_And to think... before I came in here, even _I _had my doubts about being able to steal that thing... but look at me now. I'm at the top of my game... watch out, Sedaris... I'm coming for you next."_

Red X was halfway down the hallway, when a large green arrow pierced the floor about twenty feet away. He took a step back and let out a gasp, only to have another large arrow burst through the floor, even closer to where he was standing. Several more arrows then emerged, each one getting closer and closer, until one burst up just a foot in front of his face, embedding itself into the ceiling like all the others. By now, X was stumbling backwards so quickly that he nearly lost his footing.

"_No way in hell..." _thought Red X, looking down toward the floor. _"I thought I-"_

The floor in front of the thief exploded in a spray of carpet and concrete, and the barrage of debris caused X to raise up his hands in front of his face to shield himself. Sagittarius Gamma emerged from below, leaping up through the large hole it had made. Its body was still smoking and sparking, but it was still quite intact, and its powerful bow was as dangerous as ever.

"F...fatal... fatal error..." said the centaur robot, in an erratic, screeching mechanical voice. "Must... regain... integrity-"

"Stop him!" came a loud voice from behind Red X, causing the thief to turn around and see a large group of nearly three dozen guards, running toward him from down the hallway and smashing glass security doors with the butts of their rifles in order to get to him. The thief was trapped, and his way to the quantum computer had been completely blocked off.

"_SHIT!" _thought Red X, turning forward again to see the centaur robot leveling an arrow at his head. He quickly phased through the wall to his left, causing the arrow to miss him and head straight toward the group of guards, who threw themselves to the ground. The arrow passed by all of them, landing just inches behind the three guards in the rear of the group.

Red X was safe, at least for the moment. He'd phased into a large room with a long table in the middle... the conference room from which Dullahan and his cohorts had planned the multiple attacks against the city. Unlike the hallways leading to the room where the quantum computer was contained, this area _did _have a camera... and the Titans could once again see the thief perfectly.

"What happened?" asked Beast Boy, his eager voice emerging over the communicator on X's belt. "Didja get the quantum computer?"

"No," replied Red X, slumping against the wall and holding the communicator up to his face. "That damn security robot's back... and there's a bunch of guards with him."

"Didn't you short that robot out?" said Beast Boy, before Robin came in with a question or two of his own.

"How close are you to the computer? Do you know?"

"I was about to go get it when that robot popped up," said Red X, his eyes scanning the wall for several seconds before a realization popped into his head, and he closed the communicator. "Gotta go."

X ran along the length of the wall, dashing past several chairs and nearly reaching the head of the table before placing another X on the wall and creating an opening for him to go through. When he phased through the wall _this _time, he was no longer trapped between Sagittarius Gamma and three dozen guards... he was now behind the robot, with the door leading to the quantum computer right behind _him_.

Sensing the thief's presence, the robot spun around, leaping across the hole it had made in the floor and landing just a few feet away from Red X. It raised its arrow to fire, but the fact that it was shorting out made it difficult for it to regain its balance after such a powerful leap, and it began twitching for several seconds.

"_Time for me to get the computer..." _said Red X, turning away from the robot and placing his hand on the door's security panel. As the glove he was wearing began to form a set of fake fingerprints, X could see out of the corner of his eye that Sagittarius Gamma was beginning to fire an arrow. He reacted by crouching down and pulling his hand away from the panel... and instead of his hand, the centaur's arrow pierced the center of the security panel, throwing up a huge spray of sparks and causing smoke to emerge from the edges of the red door. He tried pulling the door open, but it wouldn't budge... and the robot was preparing to fire again. _"NOW WHAT DO I DO?"_

Another arrow rushed forward, and X dove out of the way. The tip of the arrow hit the red door and bounced off, the arrow itself landing several feet from the door. The robot then slowly lumbered forward, sparking with every step, while the guards behind the robot were separated from the intruder by both the robot's wide girth and the large, eight foot-wide gap in the floor between them.

"_I may have to take matters into my own hands here..." _thought Red X, blasting every spot that the robot was sparking from with an exploding X, in an attempt to destroy it by hitting its apparent weak points. The robot stumbled back, then charged forward, leaping toward Red X and swinging out both of its front legs in an attempt to kick him to the ground. He quickly ducked, and both of the robot's legs slammed into the red door, denting it and stunning Sagittarius Gamma. _"That's it..."_

X rolled beneath the robot's legs again, leaping onto its back and climbing toward the silvery, humanoid section in front. Clenching his fists as tightly as he could, he began beating on the back of the robot's head, diverting its attention and causing it to kick its legs forward again. With Red X on its back, its arrows were useless, though it could certainly attempt to buck him off... which is exactly what it did. The robot reared its back legs into the air, thrusting its head forward. X quickly wrapped his arms around the stomach of the humanoid section and held on for dear life, smiling to himself as the robot's head and legs slammed into the red door in front of it over and over again.

"_Just a few more hits and that door should come right down..." _thought Red X, just before a powerful forward thrust of the robot's head sent the thief tumbling forward, right over the centaur's head and back-first into the red door, his head and back slamming against the metal hard enough to nearly knock him out. "AGH!"

Dazed from the impact, his body racked with pain, Red X slumped against the dented door and looked up, just in time to see the tip of the robot's arrow pointed right at his forehead.

"_Mom... I'm sorry..." _thought Red X, once again able to taste blood in his mouth. _"I... I told you I'd be safe, but-"_

At that moment, the entire robot was surrounded by bright, blue electrical energy... it sparked several times, and a large plume of smoke emerged from its frame. Another field of electricity formed... and then another... and Red X began to cough, his eyes watering from the smoke and flames now emerging from Sagittarius Gamma's body.

"_That's not good..." _thought Red X, turning to the right and pressing his palm up against the wall. _"Definitely not good!"_

Red X phased through the wall, while the guards standing at the back of the hallway watched in amazement as the once-formidable security robot centaur gave off more and more smoke... before exploding in a huge fireball. The guards turned and ran as quickly as they could, running from the flames that were now engulfing the hallway.

Back in Titans Tower, the group watched in horror as flames burst through the conference room into which Red X had just emerged. They saw him disappear into the fire, and then the camera in the conference room went out, showing nothing but static.

"NO!" screamed Starfire, placing her hands to her lips. "No..."

"Tell me he got away before the fire hit him..." whispered Terra, leaning fearfully into Beast Boy's side.

"I... I don't know..." Beast Boy said, his voice trembling. "There was fire, then... I mean... he was..."

A crackling, weak voice, intermittent between moments of audio static, began coming through each of the Titans' communicators.

"The robot... blew up..." came X's coughing voice. "I don't... know if the computer... still... I'm gonna check, but..."

"Are you all right?" asked Robin, genuine concern in his voice.

"Please... please be undamaged..." said Starfire.

"I'm fine, I'm just worried about the computer... I'm... gonna check... I'll be back soon..."

O-O-O

The next hour was agonizing for the Teen Titans, who didn't hear a word from Red X as they continued to wait for him to return. They had no idea whether the computer had been blown up in the explosion... or even if it was behind the door that Red X had described to them.

"I haven't seen X on any of these camera feeds since he talked to us," said Cyborg, searching through as many of the building's cameras as he could. "Do you think the guards got him?"

"I'm not sure... he described that there were guards along with the robot, but they might've blown up in the explosion." Raven looked over at Beast Boy and Terra, who were seated on the couch, both of them looking very nervous as they watched the screen for any sign of Red X. She then glanced to Starfire, who was nervously pacing behind Robin and Cyborg, also intently waiting for any news. "At least we know _he _didn't blow up..."

Starfire nodded, staring up at the ceiling and trying to mentally reassure herself that Red X would be all right.

"_He is very resourceful... he would not allow just a few guards to hurt him... he has fought against _us _before... mere security guards are no match for someone like him... I just want him to be safe, whether he gets the computer or not..."_

"What if he's not _coming _back to the tower?" asked Cyborg, thinking for a brief moment that Robin's suspicions were true... that Red X would steal the computer and simply return to his home instead of bringing it back to Titans Tower as he was instructed. "What if... I dunno, what if he decided to steal it, like Robin said?"

"I don't think he would do that, Cyborg," said Terra, who out of all the Titans, knew the least about Red X... but from everything she _did _know about him, she knew that he was someone she could trust. "He might be a thief, but... he wants to take those guys down as much as we do. They hurt his friend... he's not going to do anything that would keep us from catching the people responsible."

Robin said nothing, continuing to watch and monitor the camera feeds for any sign of Red X. The other Titans didn't respond to Terra either... except for Beast Boy, who reached over and took Terra's hand, nodding in agreement to what she was saying.

"Terra's right... X wouldn't ditch on us... he's not like that."

While not nearly as eloquent as Terra had been, Beast Boy's words still made Terra happy, and she gave him a smile to let him know that she appreciated that he'd agreed with her. Just then, the door to the room opened, and all of the Titans turned their heads, watching as Red X walked into the room. He had Terra's communicator clipped to his waist, but nothing in his hands as he walked toward the Titans.

"Here," said Red X, reaching out to hand Terra the communicator. "I told you I'd bring it back safe."

Terra smiled and took the communicator back from Red X, relieved that he'd come back all right. Beast Boy stood up and smiled, though from the look that Red X was giving him, he realized that the thief had some bad news.

"You're back, that's awesome...!" Beast Boy said, raising his hand to give X a high five. X waved him off and walked over to Robin, who stood up and turned to him, looking the thief right in the eyes.

"So... did you get the computer?" asked Robin.

"You really put your butt on the line for us," said Cyborg. "Whether you got it or not..."

"Yes, please do not feel like you have failed... you had a difficult task, and there was no way that you could have known that the security robot would-"

"Starfire, shh," said Red X, turning back toward Robin. He bowed his head, then raised it again. "There was an explosion, and-"

"I see," said Robin, his voice clearly giving away his disappointment. "Well-"

"I'm not finished," replied Red X. "There was an explosion, right in front of the door leading to the room where the quantum computer was. After I stopped talking to you guys, I went back out to check the damage, and... everything was gone. The door, the wall, part of the floor... to make a long story short, well..."

Red X lifted his arm and reached behind his back, pulling a small, glass test tube out of the top of his suit. The tube was filled with a clear liquid, and both Beast Boy and Terra, having seen the tube when they and Red X were fighting Dr. Ruell, clearly recognized it as the quantum computer.

"You got it!" shouted Beast Boy. "Dude!"

"BOOYAH!" shouted Cyborg, pumping his fists repeatedly in the air. "Wait... that _is _the quantum computer, right?"

"Eighty grams of deoxyribonucleic acid suspended inside a glass test tube... yes," stated Raven, "that is the quantum computer. Well done."

A small smile had appeared on Raven's lips, though it was nothing compared to the joyous grin that was on Terra's face, followed immediately by the girl tightly wrapping her arms around Red X from behind, pinning one of his arms to his side, while the other, its hand still clutching the test tube, stretched out toward Robin, who took the tube from X's hand and handed it over to Cyborg.

"Extract all the information from this," said Robin. "It looks like we've got all the evidence we need to bring down Dullahan and Sedaris."

With a smile on his face, Robin turned toward Red X, who had just recovered from Terra's hug and had walked right into the arms of Starfire, whose crushing embrace pinned both of his arms and caused a great deal of pain to the thief's already bruised chest.

"Starfire, that gigantic robot STEPPED on me there," gasped Red X, trying in vain to get the Tamaranian to release her deathgrip on his midsection. _"Aside from the horrific painful sensation, this is kind of nice..."_

The Boy Wonder watched as Starfire hugged Red X, realizing that maybe he _had _made the right decision in sanctioning X's latest theft.

"_Maybe you _are _capable of doing something besides stealing..." _thought Robin. _"If only you realized how much easier it would be for everyone if you decided to play the hero all the time..."_

O-O-O

Red X got to steal _and _play the hero... and got hugs from Terra and Starfire on top of that! After several chapters of hardship, things are starting to look up for our favorite costumed thief... but even if the Titans now have carte blanche to go after the final two members of the doomsday cartel, it can only be assumed that Dullahan and Sedaris have a few more tricks up their sleeves... and as always, the clock is ticking!


	16. Reversal Of Fortune

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Teen Titans. If I did, this would be on TV and not here. 

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This doesn't take place in the same storyline as my "Forced Base" and "Fractured Heart" stories, so forget those when you're reading this. Also, about Sanza/Red X: When he's wearing the mask, he's Red X. When he's not, he's Sanza. Simple as that.

SECOND AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a sequel to "The Life and Times of Red X", which is in my profile. Read that before you read this. Also, this fic COMPLETELY IGNORES the events of the fifth season (with the exception of "Go"). For the purposes of this fic, "Things Change" NEVER HAPPENED.

O-O-O

The DNA within the quantum computer stored information in a similar fashion to an average hard drive, and it was quite easy for Robin and Cyborg to pull files from the computer's storage and convert them to raw data. Within the hour, the Titans had recovered evidence about several business dealings that Frederick Dullahan and his bodyguard Sedaris had had with the other four members of their group... and other files on the computer linked _those _four men to their attempts to destroy the city.

With the evidence they'd recovered from the quantum computer, the Titans had proof that Dullahan and Sedaris had committed crimes. It would now be up to them to take the two men down before it was too late to save the city. After storing and backing up the information on the Tower's computers, Robin and Cyborg returned to the main room of the tower, where Starfire, Raven, Terra, Beast Boy, and Sanza were seated in the kitchen, enjoying a dinner that Terra had made.

"I learned a few recipes during my travels," said Terra, watching as Sanza lifted a spoon from what appeared to be a bowl of soup. When the soup touched his tongue, he smiled and gave a slight nod.

"This isn't bad..." replied Sanza, quickly taking another spoonful of soup. "It's... spicy, but not _too _spicy... it's kind of like... I'm not sure, exactly, but it's good."

While Cyborg sat down at the table and got a bowl of soup for himself, Robin leaned on the counter and watched his friends for several minutes, waiting until they had finished dinner before interrupting them. As soon as Starfire had finished her soup, she looked over at Robin and gestured for him to come sit at the table.

"Please, come enjoy dinner with us! Terra has made a wonderful meal for us all to enjoy... it may not be warm anymore, but it is still very good!"

"I'm not really that hungry right now... I'm trying to figure out whether we should go back to the Mycoso Building to look for those two, or..."

Dullahan and Sedaris had obviously been out while Red X was at the building earlier that day. If they hadn't, the thief would have seen them... but would they have returned to the building in the time that Robin and Cyborg had been spending with the quantum computer, or would they still be out on whatever excursion had occupied their time earlier?

"Y'know, I pulled up a file on that computer that had their plans for this week... today's entry said something about an opera," said Cyborg, with a hint of uncertainty in his voice. "At least, I think it did... never can tell with those two, though."

Robin rubbed his chin with his finger, deep in thought. Only one theater in Jump City hosted such events... the Civic Arts Theater downtown. Tonight was to be the opening night of _Les Angel Enfantes_, one of the most exclusive events in the entire city. Thousands of people would be there, their tickets ranging in price from $1,000 to over $50,000... it was the social event of the decade, and anybody who was anybody in Jump City made sure to attend.

Sanza, having just finished his soup, was getting up to put his bowl and spoon in the dishwasher when he heard Cyborg mention the opera. Sanza had heard about it too, in passing... a group of rich kids at his school were talking about going, and he'd made fun of them for it. In Sanza's mind, the opera was the most boring thing a person could go to, and anyone who'd pay thousands of dollars to watch fat people sing for three hours was out of their mind.

If the Titans _were _going to the opera to catch Dullahan and Sedaris, Sanza wasn't even sure he wanted to go... even fighting as Red X couldn't change the fact that in his mind, the opera was hideously boring.

"The opera starts in about ten minutes," said Raven, checking a clock on the wall that showed a readout of '6:50'. "We should probably hurry to get there before it starts..."

"Yeah, we should," replied Sanza, pulling his Red X mask over his face. "I hate opera, and I don't want to see one minute of that snoozefest... if we don't get there before it starts, I might fall asleep in the middle of the mission.

"Dude, you got that right," said Beast Boy, laughing and reaching over to give Red X a high-five. "Opera totally sucks."

Red X shrugged off Beast Boy's high-five and walked over to Robin, who was still leaning on the counter just outside the kitchen area. He seemed deep in thought, as if he was planning strategy for the potential battle that lay ahead. When the thief tapped him on the shoulder, he said nothing, and X had to tap him a second time to get him to turn his head.

"Going now isn't such a good idea," said Robin, looking back at X and the rest of his team.

"Why not?" asked Starfire. "We must apprehend the two men before the opera begins... we do not wish to interrupt-"

"And Dullahan probably doesn't want to make a scene either," interrupted Robin. "He's the CEO of a powerful corporation... it'll be embarrassing for him to be seen as a criminal in front of everyone. If we take him down during the opera, he might not put up as much of a fight as he would if we got there right before, when he can run or make a scene without being noticed."

Robin knew that Frederick Dullahan was no ordinary criminal... he would have to be taken down much differently than someone like Cinderblock or Overload would. If the Titans could capture him without incident, it would be the best result by far... but there was still a wild card in the equation, and it was one of great concern.

"Okay, so you can take Dullahan quietly... what about the big guy with him?" asked Red X, having had first hand experience with Dullahan's powerful bodyguard. "What about Sedaris?"

"We'll handle Sedaris just like we do every other criminal," said Raven. "If he fights us, we'll take him down."

"That won't be so easy," replied Red X. "He might seem like just another ordinary human, but... he's more powerful than anyone I've ever fought before. He kicked my ass in less than five minutes. It took him two seconds to break out of restraints that Starfire couldn't break in six hours."

Starfire let out a quiet gasp... the idea of a human more powerful than she was didn't sit well with the orange-skinned Tamaranian.

"Is that... is that true?" she asked, her trembling hand held up to her lips. Red X nodded solemnly.

"We'll worry about Sedaris when we get to the opera house," said Robin, looking over at the clock on the wall. "It's 6:53... we'll head out at 7:30. Everyone, remember... the fate of Jump City rests on taking these guys down. We've done a lot of work to get to this point, but we've still got a lot to do... and everyone in the city is counting on you."

The other Titans nodded, while Red X just leaned against an adjacent counter and listened to Robin, showing no sign of emotion whatsoever. He knew the importance of the coming mission... and he knew what danger the city was in if Dullahan and Sedaris remained at large.

And Red X also remembered Cleo... and how he still had to make the people responsible for what had happened to her pay. He remembered what his mother and Father Abuela had said about revenge... but at the moment, the thief didn't care.

"_Sedaris... you and I are going to fight again... and this time, you're going to lose."_

O-O-O

The opera played out to a beautiful, 5,500-seat theater, its walls and ceilings decorated with murals, lights, and golden-leaf paint that gave it a shining, brilliant appearance. The theater had four balconies, and on the very highest one were Dullahan and Sedaris, seated alone in the front two seats of the twelve-seat box directly in the center of the fifth-level balcony.

"It's beautiful... though in just a short time, it will all be gone," said Dullahan, a regretful tone in his voice. "Just a few days from now... though I'm sure a much more beautiful theater will be built on the ruins of this one."

Sedaris said nothing, simply giving a nod to his employer and staring down at the stage. The curtain had just begun to rise, and as the lights in the theater slowly dimmed, Dullahan opened his mouth to speak again.

"Sedaris, I hope you're not too enthralled with the events on stage to talk to me," said Dullahan, looking over at his bodyguard, whose eyes remained fixed on the rising curtain. "If this is about me rejecting _your _plan..."

Sedaris turned his head and gave Dullahan a quick, bitter look, then returned his gaze to the stage.

"You know that destroying more than one city at a time would make it impossible for us to secure all the necessary contracts! It would be a huge waste of money, as well as lives... this has always been about money, your plan would be far too destructive and-"

"You're the boss, sir," said Sedaris, watching as the first performer walked out onto the stage. He spoke as if he was in a daze... something was in the back of his mind, and Frederick Dullahan knew it... though he had no idea what his young bodyguard could possibly be thinking. Giving no further thought to the matter, Dullahan leaned back into his chair and began watching the opera.

"_We're so close now... we've been close twice before and the Titans have ruined it... if Sedaris ruins THIS, I'll never forgive him. He's too smart for his own good..."_

A woman in the middle of the stage, her platinum-blonde hair and flawless white angel costume shimmering in the bright lights shining upon her, began to sing with a beautiful soprano that lifted all the way up to the top balconies... thanks to the theater's perfect acoustics, Dullahan and Sedaris could hear the woman perfectly. As a warm smile slowly appeared on Dullahan's face, Sedaris retained a deadly serious scowl... his eyes were trained perfectly on the young soprano's, and his chin came to rest on his interlocked fingers.

"_Such beauty... such beauty that I will destroy... not for the sake of money, but for the sake of destruction itself..."_

Sedaris looked over at Dullahan, who seemed to be completely transfixed with the beautiful woman's music. It was a stark contrast from just a few minutes ago, when the old man had chastised Sedaris for wanting to focus only on the stage.

"_You think you can do whatever you want... but you're wrong. I'm the only reason you still _have _a plan to destroy the city..."_

The bodyguard leaned back into his own chair, listening to the remainder of the song... he was lying in wait, in wait for a moment, a moment whose imminence was unknown to everyone except for Sedaris himself... a moment when the first of a sequence of deadly and terrible events would be wrought upon the world.

And Frederick Dullahan had no idea...

O-O-O

"Azarath, metreon, zinthos... azarath, metreon, zinthos..."

The time that the Titans spent waiting to go out to the opera was the perfect time for Raven to perform her daily meditation... she sat in a hallway facing a window and closed her eyes, calmly focusing her inner energies.

A finger tapping on her shoulder quickly brought her out of her peaceful state. She kept her eyes closed and tried to focus again, only to hear Beast Boy's voice ringing in her ear.

"Raven? I need to ask you something..."

Beast Boy hadn't wanted to interrupt Raven's meditation... he had an important matter to discuss with her and he didn't think that it could wait until after the Titans' mission. An annoyed Raven stood up and turned around, her left hand firmly resting on her hip.

"Beast Boy, I do not have time to-"

"Before we go out, and um... finish this whole corporate destruction of the city thing, I just... I needed to ask you something important..." Beast Boy nervously tried to finish his sentence, but Raven knew exactly what subject that her changeling friend wished to address, and as he opened his mouth to speak again, Raven finished for him.

"Beast Boy, if this is about Terra... you already know what I think. We've talked about this, and-"

"Do you trust her?"

Raven let out a sigh, leaning back her head and trying to show Beast Boy that she'd grown annoyed of his constant questions about the blonde geomancer.

"Because, I just... I think that maybe if she knew you trusted her, she might not... I mean... she might not be so sad?"

"Beast Boy, I _know _she's not going to betray us again..." After Raven and the Titans had gone through so much because of Terra's betrayal, Raven found herself surprised to be saying such a thing... especially considering how unsure of herself Terra still was. "She's not sad because she thinks I don't trust her. She's sad because-"

"Maybe she thinks _I _don't trust her..."

"Beast Boy, you've always been her biggest supporter," said Raven, turning her head toward Beast Boy and looking into his eyes. "After she betrayed us, you were the only one who wanted to give her a second chance... after she turned to stone, you visited her statue almost every day..."

"_You came with me a few of those times..." _thought Beast Boy, remembering how, especially in the first and second months immediately following Terra's transformation into a statue, that Raven had accompanied him to make sure he was all right... Robin, Beast Boy, even Starfire had other things to do, but Raven had come with him... she could sense how sad he was feeling and wanted to give him support, even if he spent the trip there and back attempting to make her laugh at his jokes. "Raven... thanks for everything you did for me... if I didn't have someone like you around to... I mean, I..."

Raven turned back toward the window and closed her eyes again... Beast Boy's words of thanks, as much as they meant to her, were keeping her from being able to focus... and filling her with emotions that she needed to keep under control. When Beast Boy saw that Raven had begun meditating again, he let out a sigh and turned away from her. Immediately, the two of them heard Robin's voice echoing down the hallway.

"Titans, it's time to move out! Let's get to that opera house and take down a couple of criminals!"

With another loud sigh, Raven stood up and turned to run down the hallway... Beast Boy was already running. She hadn't gotten time to finish her meditation... and it had been because she'd spent the last few minutes of her time talking to him.

"_Why did I even give him the time of day?" _thought Raven, following Beast Boy as the two returned to the main room of the Tower. _"He's got Terra to talk to now, he doesn't need me..."_

That Raven understood Beast Boy's emotions even better than Terra did didn't even occur to the gray-skinned empath... all she had to focus on now was bringing down Dullahan and Sedaris before they could inflict destruction on Jump City. She had no idea that Beast Boy was harboring feelings for her potentially as intense as the ones that he openly professed for Terra... but Beast Boy himself was becoming increasingly aware of the emotional conflict in his mind, and it bothered him more with every second... the fact that Terra was still unsure of herself brought Beast Boy no comfort.

"Hey, Beast Boy!" Terra called out to him, waving her arms as he entered the main room. She, the other Titans, and Red X, were standing by the front door, preparing to head out. With a smile and a laugh, Beast Boy ran over to Terra, who seemed to be as joyful as ever. "You ready to go catch these guys?"

"I've never been more ready for anything in my life!" said Beast Boy, eagerly pumping his fists.

"Awesome," said Robin, a smile on his face as he stood next to the front door. "All right, Titans... let's do it!"

O-O-O

"I can't get enough of this ingenue that they've got... her voice is just amazing!"

Dullahan looked over at Sedaris, who hadn't said a word or made a sound since the conversation that the two had had at the start of the play. The bodyguard remained deep in thought, his eyes focusing directly on the lead female... it was a familiar expression for Sedaris, who, as part of his job, remained stone-faced and vigilant as he guarded his rich and powerful employer. Perhaps he was scanning the crowd for snipers, or watching the stage for anything that might go wrong in the play... and Dullahan shrugged and gave it no heed.

"Still on the job, _always _on the job... you're so good at your job, Sedaris. In the eighteen months since I hired you, I've never been so much as looked at the wrong way... Voscoti was right, you're the best bodyguard in Jump City."

Sedaris gave a quick, proud smirk, but his eyes remained fixed on the stage, where the action was really beginning to pick up... the orchestra was entering into a loud, chaotic movement, and the sounds of the instruments perfectly complimented the singing on stage. It was at this moment that Sedaris rose from his seat and began walking to the back of the box.

"Sedaris, you're going to miss the best part of the whole opera!" said Dullahan, pointing at the stage. "This is the Vivaldi Movement, I've read about this in the paper... it's very uplifting, and-"

"I'll be back," replied Sedaris.

"All right... but you're going to regret not being able to hold it in."

As soon as Dullahan had turned back toward the stage, Sedaris stopped and slowly began walking back up to the front of the box. His steps were silent, his mind working with cold, efficient precision. When he was directly behind his employer, his hands slowly drifted around to the front of the man's neck... only when his grip was firmly in place did Frederick Dullahan suspect a single thing.

"You business types are all the same... thinking only of the profit margin, never looking to the big picture... always wanting to stop before your returns begin to diminish."

Sedaris' voice showed not a hint of emotion... retaining the same calmness that it had during his eighteen months as a bodyguard. Dullahan started to speak, but the hands around his neck were far too tight, and far too strong. He could feel his bodyguard's fingers slowly drifting toward a single bone in his neck... and he let out a silent scream.

"Project Deep Rupture? I prefer to call it Dark Calamity..."

O-O-O

The Titans and Red X rushed into the opera house, pushing past a man in red who meekly attempted to ask for their tickets. The man was immediately chastised by his manager, who explained to the man in no uncertain terms that the Titans were obviously on one of their missions.

"I just... I just... I'm sorry, sir," said the ticket-taker, meekly bowing his head.

"I just wonder what the hell could be going on in _my _opera house that the Titans need to stop?"

The seven teens dashed up to the front desk, where three people, two of them well-groomed men in tuxedos, and another of them a woman in a black dress, were running an information booth that distributed programs and souvenirs from the opening night of the play. As soon as they saw Robin and his team, the three of them immediately focused their attention on the Boy Wonder.

"May I help you?" asked the woman in the black dress.

"We need to know where two of your guests are seated... Frederick Dullahan and his bodyguard, Alex Sedaris."

"The two of them have specifically requested that they not be disturbed during the evening," said the woman, who, after a brief check of her computer, realized that the men's names were blocked out of the system. "I... I can't tell you where they-"

"This is a VERY serious situation!" said Robin, his voice rising to a shout. He leaned over the front of the desk and looked the woman right in the eyes. "I don't care what they requested, I-"

"No, I seriously can't tell you!" replied the woman, turning over the monitor of her computer so that Robin could see it. "The computer lists them as if they weren't even here! They paid a lot of money for this privilege, I-"

"I'll see what I can do," said Cyborg, leaning over the woman's desk and rapidly typing instructions into her keyboard. "Lessee here... okay-"

"There it is," said Raven, pointing at the screen as soon as the two men's names came up. "They're on the Presidential balcony on the fifth level. Let's go."

"You heard Raven... Titans, move!"

The Titans and X rushed away from the desk and toward a flight of stairs on the right side of the lobby. Cyborg was the last to join the team, having bent himself into a position that made it _very _difficult for him to get off of the desk... finally, he did, and ran up the stairs to meet up with the rest of the Titans.

The group climbed one flight of stairs, then another... and soon, they were on the fifth floor, staring at a sign that pointed them in the direction of several balconies. To their right side was a long wall lined with fancy-looking wooden doors... but only one of them, the door right in the center of the hall, led to the Presidential balcony occupied by Dullahan and Sedaris.

"It's to our left, five rooms that way!" shouted Robin, pointing down the hallway as soon as the group made it onto the fifth floor.

"_Ugh..." _thought Red X, wincing as he heard the loud music emanating from just behind the nearby doors. _"It sounds boring from _here..._"_

As the Titans made their way down the hall, they passed several well-dressed patrons... including a particularly large man who appeared to be running in the direction of the stairs. The man rushed past the Titans, and bumped into Starfire before dashing down the stairs leading to the fourth floor. Starfire turned, and could clearly see the man's face for a split-second as he charged past. She stopped in the middle of the hallway as her mind processed what she had seen... a tall, muscular man in sunglasses, coming from the direction of what appeared to be the Presidential balcony...

"_He is... could he perhaps be...?"_

Starfire glanced to her left... Red X and her fellow Titans were already several doors ahead of her, and about to enter the area where Dullahan and Sedaris were supposed to be. She looked toward the stairs again... the muscular man was gone, having disappeared down the stairs.

"_It will not hurt to take a look... I have my communicator, I will not be long..."_

The group of seven, now a group of six, stood in front of a large door with 'Presidential Balcony' marked above it, the words engraved in a shiny, golden plate. Robin reached down to grab the handle, while the other four Titans took fighting stances. Red X, on the other hand, had noticed that someone was missing.

"Hey, you guys, wait... where's Starfire?"

Robin's hand loosened from the door handle, and he turned around, checking the group. He saw Raven, Beast Boy, Terra, Cyborg, X... but no Starfire.

"Starfire?" Robin looked back and forth down the hallway. Starfire was nowhere to be found... had she gotten lost in the halls of the crowded building? Or had she been the victim of something far more sinister? "Starfire!"

"Robin, chill... I'm sure she's fine, this is just a big building... let's just worry about Dullahan for now," said Cyborg, walking past Robin and placing his own fingers around the door handle. "After we take care of these two, we'll look for Starfire..."

Robin let out a sigh, realizing that Cyborg was probably right. The Titans wouldn't have a better chance to go after Dullahan and Sedaris, and if the team wasted time looking for Starfire, the men might slip out of their grasp. Still, Robin couldn't help being worried... and he kept his fingers firmly gripped around his Titan communicator, intending to call Starfire the _instant _that Dullahan and Sedaris were secure. Robin gave Cyborg a nod, and he slowly pulled back the door, opening up the small, carpeted balcony.

The music emanating from below could clearly be heard now as the group walked through the narrow pathway in the center of the balcony, containing three rows of seats, four in each row, with the pathway separating them in the middle.

"There he is," said Terra, pointing to the silhouette of a clump of hair, sticking up from a seat in the front row to the very left. "That's Dullahan... I think..."

"No sign of the bodyguard, he might be in the seat next to him," whispered Cyborg, as Robin made his way up to the front row. A loud series of trumpet and violin notes, punctuated by loud drumming and the clashing of cymbals, gave the scene a foreboding and almost terrifying mood... a mood that could very well be punctuated by an impending fight, should Dullahan's bodyguard attempt to engage the Titans. Robin, now at the front of the balcony, turned toward where Dullahan was sitting and opened his mouth. What he saw shocked him into stunned silence.

"Dear god..." whispered Robin, immediately drawing Beast Boy and Terra to where he was standing. When they saw what the Boy Wonder had just laid eyes upon, they too were completely shocked. Terra began to let out a shriek, only to stop herself by placing her hand over her lips.

Frederick Dullahan was dead in his chair, his neck snapped to the side at a vicious angle. His eyes and mouth were wide open, his last moments obviously having been spent in pure horror. A small stream of drool trickled from the left side of his mouth. By now, Cyborg and Raven had also come up to the front of the balcony... and both of them reacted the same way as the others. Even Raven was horrified.

"Who could have done this?" gasped Raven, her eyes wide.

"Only one person," said Robin, scanning the entire balcony for any sign of Dullahan's bodyguard. "Sedaris."

"And... Sedaris is gone," added Beast Boy, the shock of seeing Dullahan's body still evident in his voice.

"Not just Sedaris," said Cyborg, looking around the balcony. "Red X is gone too!"

O-O-O

Starfire walked through the halls of the ground floor, ignoring the looks given to her by theater patrons surprised to see one of the Teen Titans at the opera house. She knew for sure that she'd seen Sedaris running past her... or at least someone she _thought _was Sedaris, both from the information Red X had given her and from the picture she'd seen Robin pull up on the Titans Tower computer.

"_I will not allow you to escape... I know that you have caused just as much damage as the others, despite the fact that you are merely a bodyguard..."_

She'd heard what Red X had told her about Sedaris... that while he was just an ordinary human, he possessed strength exceeding even her own... but while that fact _did _make Starfire nervous, she wasn't intimidated, and she wasn't afraid. She was going to find Sedaris and bring him down. It was her duty as a Teen Titan... she just wished that she'd told Robin before she'd left the group.

"_I know that he will worry about me... he is probably worried about me right now... I would be worried if _he _was gone..."_

She turned a corner and began walking down another hallway, this one containing rooms that were meant for use by the theater's more luxurious guests. As she walked past a door marked 'Catering Room', she could hear the door creak open... but before she could turn to face the sound, a hand clamped over her mouth and she was immediately dragged inside, the door closing behind her.

Starfire screamed fearfully, just as the hand moved away from her lips and a pair of powerful arms tossed her into a large, wooden table. The table broke on impact, and several metallic cups, bowls, and plates were sent flying as Starfire slammed into the wall behind them. In a daze, she took several seconds to stand... and when she did, she could clearly see the same person who she'd trailed on the fifth floor.

"I know you..." said Starfire, rubbing a spot on her arm where she'd hit the wall especially hard. "You are Alex Sedaris!"

"And you're Starfire," said Sedaris, straightening the sleeves of his tuxedo coat and adjusting his dark glasses. "I've heard a lot about you..."

Not waiting to exchange pleasantries, Starfire pointed her palms at Sedaris and blasted him with several Starbolts, filling the entire front half of the catering room with a large plume of smoke. The smoke cleared, revealing that Sedaris and his tuxedo were completely unharmed. With a stunned gasp, Starfire put her hand to her lip and nervously pressed herself against the wall.

"You are... undamaged... but that is impossible...!"

"Impossible for a normal human, yes... but you see, I'm much different than a normal human. I've been genetically enhanced by the government... I can do things that most people only dream of."

In the second that it took Starfire to comprehend Sedaris' words, he'd already run across the small room and had driven his elbow into Starfire's face. She was slammed hard into the wall, which cracked in several places that her body had impacted. Before she could counterattack, Sedaris had plowed his fist into Starfire's gut, knocking nearly all the wind out of her body, and causing her to let out a loud gasp.

"I really didn't want to deal with _any _of you Titans today," said Sedaris, interlocking his fingers in front of him and popping his knuckles. "But then I saw you all by yourself, and... well, I guess you could say I'm sending a message."

Starfire had been hurt, and could feel blood slowly start to trickle from the right side of her lip... but she wasn't about to be intimidated by Sedaris. He might not be a _normal _human, but he was still human nonetheless... and definitely still beatable. Starfire clenched her teeth and charged forward, striking Sedaris with a powerful punch to the left side of his face. He stumbled back, his head knocked to the side by the force of the blow. With a loud battle cry, Starfire blasted Sedaris in the chest at point-blank range with a large Starbolt, sending him flying across the room, his body impacting the door a short distance away.

"You will find that I will not be so easily pushed around... you may be bigger than me and you may be stronger than me, but..." Starfire narrowed her eyes, a sense of satisfaction filling her as she heard Sedaris groan while attempting to stand. "...but I am NOT going to lose!"

Starfire flew at Sedaris just as he stood up, swinging her leg around to kick him in the face. He reached out and grabbed her by the ankle, flinging her into the wall next to the door and making another large crack in the wall. Starfire exhaled quickly, recovering from Sedaris' attack and blasting him in the throat with her eye lasers. Letting out a gasp of his own, Sedaris clutched his neck and stumbled back toward the side of the room, where another large table had been placed, a large bowl of cheese fondue set out on its left side.

"_I shall make him regret ever starting a fight with me..." _thought Starfire, quickly flying over to the table and slamming her elbow into the right side of the table. The table broke, and its left end flew up into the air, sending the bowl of cheese fondue up with it. The bowl turned over and landed on Sedaris' head, covering him in the hot, cheesy liquid and ruining his tuxedo. Without any sign of emotion, Sedaris reached up and removed the bowl from his head, tossing it aside and throwing his cheese-covered sunglasses away with it. Starfire stood several feet away, giggling to herself at the sight of her opponent and the fondue dripping off of his body.

"All right, girl... you've had your fun," said Sedaris, pounding his left fist into his right hand. "Now it's time for that fun to end."

Sedaris rushed forward at Starfire, who threw herself to the ground and slammed her feet into the bodyguard's stomach, lifting him over her body and throwing him backward. With amazing dexterity, Sedaris did a full backflip and landed just behind Starfire, his back to her head as she slowly sat up. In less than a second, Starfire was down again, as Sedaris kicked backward and caught her right in the back of the head. She let out a scream and clutched the back of her skull, rolling onto her side and grimacing in pain.

"I told you, the fun is over right now!" Showing his first hint of anger since the fight had begun, Sedaris kicked Starfire in the back, a kick that sent her flying into the wall, bouncing off of it and landing on her back on top of the broken fondue table. "I'm about to make you wish that your friends were taking this beating instead of you..."

"I would _never _forsake my friends because of a mere hint of discomfort!" shouted Starfire, rising to her feet and tossing several Starbolts at Sedaris as he came toward her. The powerful bodyguard shielded himself by crossing his arms in an X pattern in front of his body, then, once he was right next to Starfire, he wrapped his hand around her neck and slammed her into the wall. Keeping his tight grip on her throat, Sedaris began slamming the girl into the wall over and over again, creating a larger and larger crack every single time. _"He is making it hard for me to breathe... I must do something!"_

Starfire blasted Sedaris in the face with her eye lasers, which only served to stop him for a brief moment before he began slamming her into the wall again, each time seemingly more painful for Starfire than the last. She could feel the air slowly slipping from her body, and she tried gathering her energy to use her eye lasers again, but the pressure that Sedaris put on her neck made it impossible to focus her powers, and she could slowly feel herself beginning to pass out.

Finally, with one powerful hit, Sedaris completely broke through the wall, sending Starfire through a layer of drywall and brick and into a broom closet adjacent to the catering room. Two teenage theater employees who had been making out in the closet fled in terror, and Starfire herself was thrown to the concrete floor. She gasped several times, taking in all the dust and debris created when Sedaris had knocked her through the wall. She clutched at her throat and began to choke, desperately seeking some source of air, her eyes wide and terrified as she lay on the closet floor.

"_He... he is gone..." _thought Starfire, briefly peering through the large hole in the side of the closet and checking the interior of the catering room for any sign of Sedaris. She gasped and choked several more times, finally able to sense that air was returning to her body. Despite the fact that she could breathe in the vacuum of space, her lungs became accustomed to oxygen while she was on Earth, and before she could return to an airless environment, she had to acclimate herself. Flying through the gradually-thinning atmosphere of Earth gave her time to do this... being choked did not. _"That was... that was horrible..."_

Just as she was beginning to pick herself up from the ground, the tall, foreboding Sedaris filled the doorway of the closet, staring down at her with contempt. She let out a shriek and tried to stand, but almost immediately, Sedaris dove upon her. She lifted up her knees and caught him in the stomach, but that stopped him for only a moment, and before she could blast him with Starbolts, he punched her in the face repeatedly, his fist slamming into her cheeks, her nose, and her mouth.

"I'm not through with you yet, bitch," said Sedaris, reaching up and grabbing a large, gallon-sized jug of industrial-strength cleaning solution. He opened up the top of the jug and held it in one hand, while using the fingers of his other hand to hold Starfire's eyes open.

"_NO!" _thought Starfire, her hands pressed to her side by the force of Sedaris' weight on her body. She thrashed desperately, but she was helpless to stop him. "Please, do not...!"

"This will sting a little," said Sedaris, before pouring the entire contents of the jug into Starfire's eyes. She let out an extremely loud series of screams, her eyes in complete agony as Sedaris emptied the jug into them. When he tossed the jug away and stood up, Starfire was rolling on the floor of the broom closet, screaming and clutching her hands to her face in pain. "Hey, it's not my fault you didn't read the jug. It clearly says on the side, 'do not get in eyes'."

If she was a human, Starfire would have been permanently blinded. As it was, Starfire's eyes had turned from green to red, and were completely bloodshot. She was in immense pain, but she could still see... though her vision was hazy at best. She tried to focus so that she could hit Sedaris with a Starbolt, but he struck first, repeatedly kicking her in the side and sending even more pain through Starfire's body. She crouched into the fetal position and tried to fend off his attacks, all the while planning a counterattack of her own.

"_Not like this... I am strong... I can defeat him... I will not be shamed like this..." _thought Starfire, as another hard kick came into her side. She let out a muted scream of pain, though the pain in her sides was nothing compared to the stinging in her eyes any time she tried to open them. She gritted her teeth and again tried to get up, only to have Sedaris' foot come down hard on the side of her head.

"I told you I was going to send the Titans a message," said Sedaris, raising his foot over Starfire's head again. "When they see your beautiful little brains splattered all over the walls of this broom closet, I think they'll get that message loud and clear."

Sedaris brought down his foot, and Starfire let out an involuntary scream, horrified that she was about to come to a very grizzly end.

"Get _this _message," said Red X, spinning Sedaris around and slicing his X-blade across the bridge of Sedaris' nose. With a loud cry of pain, Sedaris wiped the blood from his face, then raised his fist and punched the thief hard in the face, sending him flying out of the closet. The thief impacted the wall on the opposite side of the hallway, and Sedaris quickly stomped toward him, ignoring Starfire for the moment and focusing on the thief who had ruined the city-destroying plans of his predecessors.

"You're the last person I expected to show up," said Sedaris, sending another punch at Red X's head. X dodged to the side, allowing Sedaris' fist to come right past him and embed itself into the wall. He then blasted Sedaris with several exploding Xs, which at their close range proved to be quite powerful, sending Sedaris back several steps.

"And the last person you wanna see." A large, metallic X came right at Sedaris, hitting him in the chest and sending him flying down the corridor. Dozens of horrified bystanders fled past the two, but neither Red X nor Sedaris cared, and the latter quickly knocked the X away from his body and began walking toward the thief again.

"You have no idea what you're getting yourself into, child," said Sedaris, leaping into the air and sending a spinning kick straight at Red X's head. X was barely able to duck under the kick, rolling away from Sedaris and getting into a standing position again. "So, where are the other Titans? I assume they've already found Mr. Dullahan."

"That's right," replied Red X, "and without you around to protect his ass, he's probably halfway to jail by now."

The unintended irony of Red X's statement caused Sedaris to smile and chuckle, and the thief began to wonder exactly what was so funny to the bodyguard about his employer winding up in jail.

"I guess you must not care very much about money, or maybe you're just stupid," said Red X, "so I'll rephrase it in a way that you can-"

"Frederick Dullahan is dead," said Sedaris. Red X gave a stunned exclamation, and Sedaris capitalized by slamming his fist into the thief's face, knocking him to the ground and nearly knocking him out. "His plans and my plans didn't match, so I ended his life and took over."

Red X was stunned, both by Sedaris' punch and by the bodyguard's recent revelation. Frederick Dullahan was the man in charge of the whole thing, so what did Sedaris have to gain by killing him?

"You _were _right about one thing, though..." Sedaris was now standing directly over Red X, who was still far too weak to defend himself. "I don't care very much about money... in fact, I don't care about money at all."

"Unnngh... what do you mean, you stupid prick?" coughed Red X, still defiant even as he lay helpless and prostrate on the ground. Sedaris gave a small chuckle, then stomped down hard on X's leg, eliciting another loud scream of pain from the downed thief.

"What I mean is... I'm not destroying Jump City anymore... at least not _only _Jump City. And I'm not doing it for money... I'm doing it for reasons that you and your friends will never understand. But I'm afraid that if I told you any more, I'd have to kill you... oh wait, I forgot. I'm going to kill you anyway."

And just like he had almost done to Starfire, Sedaris raised his foot above Red X's head. It was then that a Starbolt impacted the wall just a few feet away from him... Sedaris turned to see Starfire, leaning against the frame of the broom closet door. She was weakened, and her eyes were still bloodshot, but she was still determined to fight... and determined not to let Sedaris harm any of her friends.

"You leave him alone... you still have to finish your fight with me!" shouted Starfire, her eyes alternating between a green glow and a red one. Sedaris laughed, but kept his attention on Red X.

"Just a second... I'm not done with _him_ yet."

Dozens of small chunks of concrete flew out of the broom closet, soaring over Starfire's head and slamming into Sedaris' body. The force of the rocks wasn't much, but it _did _shock him enough to nearly knock him to the ground. He turned and saw the Teen Titans rushing down the hallway toward him... led by Terra, her eyes glowing bright yellow.

"It's not safe for me here anymore," said Sedaris, turning and fleeing down the hall, leaving the wounded Red X and Starfire behind and disappearing through an emergency exit.

"We need to follow him!" shouted Robin, before he caught a glimpse of Starfire in the doorway of the broom closet and stopped immediately, ceasing his charge down the hallway and running toward her. "Starfire, are you-"

"Robin, I am undamaged..." said Starfire, her arms tightly wrapping around Robin's back... though from her bloodshot eyes, her bloody lip, and her bruised body, Robin could clearly tell that she was _not _undamaged at all... she was very damaged indeed. "Please... you said it yourself, you must-"

Sedaris' flight through the emergency exit had triggered an alarm throughout the entire building, and the halls were rapidly filling with fleeing patrons... it was clear that the Titans weren't going to catch the homicidal bodyguard now.

"Starfire... I should've gotten here sooner..." said Robin, stroking Starfire's hair with his hand while keeping his other tightly wrapped around her back. _"I shouldn't have gone into that balcony... I knew from the second I heard she was gone that she was in trouble..."_

While Raven kept a protective shield around Red X to keep him from getting trampled as he lay aching on the ground, Beast Boy, Terra, and Cyborg had all knelt at his side to check on him.

"Dude, what happened to you guys?" asked Beast Boy, taking Red X by his left hand while Terra took his right and the two helped the injured thief to his feet. "That Sedaris guy, I guess he _is _as powerful as you said..."

"Ugh... yeah, he is," groaned Red X, looking over at Starfire, who was still tightly wrapped in Robin's embrace. "Looks like she's going to be fine..."

"Are you sure you're okay?" asked Terra, reaching up to remove Red X's mask. "Here, lemme check your-"

"No, no, no, a thousand times no," said Red X, roughly nudging Terra's hand away from his face. He looked around and saw that while the rate of people fleeing down the hall had steadily decreased, there were still numerous people filing toward the exits, and Red X wanted _none _of them seeing who he was. "I'm sure my face is fine, I'm just a bit dizzy is all... _probably got a concussion when that son of a bitch punched me..._"

"Robin... do not blame yourself, I will be perfectly all right..." Starfire's head was pounding, and her eyes still stung to the point of watering whenever she opened them... her entire body was in pain, Sedaris had done quite a number on her, and Robin could sense that pain in every word that Starfire spoke. "We just... we need to focus on catching that horrible person..."

"He killed Dullahan..." muttered Red X, shaking his head and pondering every word that Sedaris had spoken to him. "He said... he said he wanted to destroy more than just this city... he said..."

"We saw that he killed Dullahan," replied Cyborg, still cringing from the sight of the man's body slumped in his chair. "Snapped his neck..."

"Ugh, don't talk about it, please..." said Terra, raising her hand to her lips. _"I've seen horrible things in my life, but... but the sight of that man's body will never leave me, not as long as I live..."_

"We're going back to the Tower," said Robin, who had finally been able to release Starfire and was now standing next to the broom closet entrance, while Starfire was standing next to him, rubbing her stinging eyes. "We have to try and find where Sedaris went as soon as possible... he's not just a murderer, he's a threat to the city."

"You guys go back, I'm walking home," said Red X, who was already past all of the other Titans and making his way to the lobby. He'd seen and fought enough for one day, and while going after Sedaris was a high priority to the thief, he had an even higher priority in mind... sleep. "Have yourselves a merry little evening."

The Titans watched as Red X left, and while the others wanted nothing further to do with the thief for the night, Starfire knew that she had something to say to him. She followed him out to the lobby, turning toward Robin just before she left.

"I will be right back," said Starfire, and Robin gave an understanding nod, knowing that Red X must've left before the Titans had gone into the balcony... he'd left to protect Starfire.

"_He did exactly what I should have done..." _thought Robin.

The lobby of the building was completely empty... everyone, including the workers, had already left. Red X walked toward the revolving doors at the entrance, his hand just beginning to move toward the handle before another hand brushed across his shoulder, stopping him. He turned and saw Starfire, a smile on her face.

"Kid, I already told you, I'm not-"

"I do not wish to stop you from returning home, I just... I want to thank you for saving me."

Starfire knew that she probably wouldn't have died had Red X not come when he did... the other Titans were only a few minutes behind him. Still, had X not come, Starfire may not be standing... Sedaris' assault could have permanently crippled the Tamaranian girl.

"I was going after Sedaris, I wasn't thinking about you... really, I wasn't," said X, trying to be as humble as he could. "Are you all right?"

"I am fine... thank you..."

Starfire reached over to the thief and gently took his hand in hers... his glove was warm, smooth, just like Robin's... she knew that inside this suit was someone just as heroic as he was... but was just a bit too selfish to admit it.

"I... I know that things have not been going well for you lately... so I just want you to know that I do think about you often... I am sorry for what happened to Cleo."

Starfire reached up to the bottom of Red X's mask, gently pulling the material up to just over his lips. Before he could move away, she leaned in and quickly kissed him, before pulling the material back down over his face. The thief was surprised by this, and he reached up to touch his lips where Starfire had kissed him, touching only the mask instead.

"Thanks, but I... I think I'm starting to recover from Cleo... it'll take me a while, but..."

"Thank you again, Sanza..."

And with that, Starfire turned and walked away, exiting the lobby and leaving Red X standing alone by the door, his lips still tingling. He took in a deep breath, then exited the theater, his pain already beginning to subside... and he knew that Starfire's kiss had a lot to do with it.

O-O-O

Sanza sat on the kitchen table, wearing only a pair of blue jeans as his mother inspected the various bruises he'd accumulated on his body. She rubbed a wet rag covered in soap, water, and a medicated aloe solution all over the large bruise on his chest, tsking to herself.

"Sanza, I am not going to let you continue to be Red X if you keep coming home with all these ugly bruises on your body... you didn't run into Slade again, did you?"

"Worse," sighed Sanza, staring up at the ceiling and remembering that Sedaris was still at large, and from what he'd told Sanza, still as dangerous as ever.

"No one could ever be worse than that bastard Slade," replied Maria, recalling how the evil mastermind had terrorized both of her children... the fact that she herself had been terrorized as well didn't matter at all... a mother's greatest concern in the world was always her children. "If I ever seen that fucking _pendejo _again I'll tear out his... pardon my language, Sanza."

"Nah, you sound a lot cooler when you swear, mom," said Sanza, chuckling to himself. _"Unlike Starfire, who sounds like a Dr. Seuss book when _she _swears..."_

As Maria continued to tend to her son's injuries, Maddy entered the room, her eyes widening as she saw the state that her brother was in. She rushed over to him, her voice lined with concern.

"Oh my gosh, Sanza, what happened to you?"

"See, _this _is why I didn't want to tell you guys that I was Red X," said Sanza, half to himself and half to his mother and sister. He rolled his eyes before staring straight into his sister's face, trying to lift her spirits. "It doesn't hurt as bad as it looks, Maddy..."

"Oh really?"

Maddy walked over and pressed her hand down hard on the bruise covering Sanza's chest.

"Aaaaaaaagh!" Sanza gasped, letting out a loud cry of pain as his sister rapidly pulled her hand back. "Maddy, you-"

Maria reached around and tightly clamped her hand over Sanza's mouth, stifling what she knew would be a storm of profanity. Sanza may have thought that his mother sounded cool when she swore, but Maria thought the exact opposite about her son.

"Maddalena Consuela Salazar, don't _ever _do that again!" shouted Maria, her fingers still tightly pressed over her son's lips.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" shouted Maddy, almost on the verge of tears.

"It's all right, just..." Letting out a sigh, Maria took her hand off of Sanza's mouth and exited the room, walking past Maddy toward the downstairs bathroom. "I need to get more rubbing solution... stay on the table until I get back."

His chest still stinging with pain, Sanza gave Maddy an angry scowl as she slowly slunk out of the room.

"Sanza, I'm so sorry... I'm sorry, please don't be-"

"Come here, Maddy," said Sanza, gesturing for his sister to re-enter the room. She stopped between the kitchen and the living room, her arms crossed over her chest. "I'm not going to hurt you..."

Maddy sighed and walked back over to Sanza, her eyes still wide as she stared at his numerous bruises. She remembered how encouraging she'd been to Sanza before, but the reality of the danger that he put himself in when he went out at Red X was always made painfully clear whenever he showed up at home after a tough battle... and Maddy's concern for her brother could clearly be seen in her face. Not wanting her to feel scared, Sanza reached out and took Maddy's hand, gently pulling it in toward his chest.

"Here, Maddy... when you touch it gently it doesn't hurt as much..." he said, releasing his grip on Maddy's hand and allowing her to run her hand over the bruise on his chest. "See? It doesn't hurt..."

Maddy nodded, running her hands up to another bruise, this one on his left shoulder.

"So, how did you... how did you get these, anyway?" asked Maddy, climbing up on the table with Sanza and sitting down next to him. "Did you fight a bad guy, or-"

"Well, actually, the one on my chest is from fighting a robot... it was a big robot, it looked like a guy and a horse put together."

"...you mean a centaur?" said Maddy, blinking twice. Sanza looked surprised that Maddy actually knew what a centaur was... he slowly nodded. "They sent a centaur robot after you?"

"Yeah... they sent a lot of guys after me, but I still managed to steal what I needed to steal. I would've taken it here, but the Titans made me give it to them because... well, we're sort of working together now. Don't get me wrong, I _hate _working with the Titans."

"Why?" asked Maddy, who herself would be thrilled to be working with the Titans... especially with Robin. "Not even Robin? He's really cute..."

"He's already taken," said Sanza, his lips once again tingling as he remembered how Starfire had kissed him. He let up a sigh and stared up at the ceiling. _"I guess now that I'm not with Cleo anymore, it's back to lusting after Starfire again... then again, that blonde earth-moving girl is sorta cute... what's her name? Terra? She's really pretty..."_

Maddy snapped her fingers loudly, surprising Sanza and getting him to look at her.

"Tell me more stuff," said Maddy, a bright smile on her lips. Sanza gladly obliged, grateful that his sister had something to think about _besides _all the bruises that he had gotten... and also grateful that no matter what happened, no matter what he did, he always had his little sister's support.

"_Maybe I should've told her everything right from the beginning..."_

O-O-O

That night, as Beast Boy and Terra sat alone in Beast Boy's room, the changeling's mind kept drifting to Raven... and that even as he was thinking to himself about how much he loved Terra, he might be falling in love with Raven as well.

He wasn't going to let Terra know that, however. She had enough to worry about as it was...

"It's too bad we didn't get Sedaris today," said Terra, who had been talking with Beast Boy for the last half-hour, sticking to the relatively safe topic of that day's events. "I guess it's better to only have one madman to deal with instead of two, but... still, it kinda sucks not knowing where that one guy is."

"Yeah," said Beast Boy, his feet dangling over the side of the bed. "But Robin'll find him. I mean, he did find all the others, so..."

Terra nodded, then put her hand up to her lips and gave a loud yawn. She stood up from the bed and stretched out her arms... it had been a long day, and it was time for the blonde geomancer to go to bed.

"Maybe we'll find him tomorrow," said Terra, turning around to talk to Beast Boy a few seconds more. "Good night, Beast Boy..."

Terra leaned over and gave her friend a quick kiss on the lips, then turned and exited the room, leaving Beast Boy alone on his bed. He yawned himself and walked over to turn off the light, then climbed under his sheets and curled up to go to sleep.

"_Good night, Terra..." _thought Beast Boy, visions of every nice thing that Raven had ever said to him or had done for him replaying in his mind. He pulled his pillow over his face in an attempt to rid himself of the visions, but nothing that he did seemed to work, and he let out a frustrated growl, curling up even tighter underneath his sheets. _"Dammit, Beast Boy... you promised yourself that when Terra came back, you would be together with her..."_

He still loved Terra, but not with all of his heart... it was more like a slight majority. And that majority was losing seats with every passing day...

O-O-O

Some ten miles to the east of the city lay a vast, treeless desert. In this desert had been constructed a large, spacious bunker, built in the 1950s to defend against a nuclear attack by the Soviets.

Now, this bunker was being used as a command center... and the commander was Sedaris, who stood atop the bunker's entrance and faced nearly three hundred men, most of them pulled from the ranks of the government agencies for which Sedaris had once worked. All of the men had once thing in common... they all had a problem with society, and had united under Sedaris to achieve a single, earth-shattering goal... they were going to destroy it.

"The deed is done... Dullahan is dead, and Project Dark Calamity is just days from completion!" shouted Sedaris, his silhouetted figure imposing in the darkness of the night. "Just off the coast of the city, a massive drill is boring its way through the crust of the Earth, toward its final destination... the San Andreas Fault! With the technology that Dullahan and his fellow deceased corporate cronies have so graciously provided for us, once the drill touches the fault, I can control it with just the touch of a button! Gentlemen, we have more power now than anyone in the history of the world has ever possessed... we can rip apart the planet and bring all of humanity to its knees!"

Sedaris raised his right hand into the air, and the men amassed in front of the bunker began to cheer.

"The world is ours, gentlemen... the world is ours."

O-O-O

The corporate coalition is down to one, but that one is a very, _very _dangerous one indeed... five more chapters to go, can the Titans stop Sedaris before he does something really bad? I know someone who probably REALLY liked this chapter... ;;; As for the rest of you, why aren't you reviewing? Okay, I do have a couple people, but... maybe I should start reviewing other people's stories. THAT'S probably the reason. Still...


	17. The Filling Of The Pie

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Teen Titans. If I did, this would be on TV and not here. 

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This doesn't take place in the same storyline as my "Forced Base" and "Fractured Heart" stories, so forget those when you're reading this. Also, about Sanza/Red X: When he's wearing the mask, he's Red X. When he's not, he's Sanza. Simple as that.

SECOND AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a sequel to "The Life and Times of Red X", which is in my profile. Read that before you read this. Also, this fic COMPLETELY IGNORES the events of the fifth season (with the exception of "Go"). For the purposes of this fic, "Things Change" NEVER HAPPENED.

O-O-O

The day after his second close encounter with Sedaris, Sanza could still feel the effects of the bruises he had sustained, and he continuously shifted in his chair during the school day in an attempt to temporarily alleviate the pain. He couldn't wait to get home, and when he finally arrived, he saw something very peculiar lying on the second floor of his apartment's fire escape. It was a warm cherry pie, and he could smell the sweet fumes emanating from its filling the moment he bent down to pick it up.

"Did mom make this?" asked Sanza, before spotting the small tag hanging off the side of the pie tin. "From your dear mother... hunh, I guess she _did _make it. But then why would she leave it out here?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Sanza walked into the kitchen and set the pie down on the table. Maddy, who had already arrived home and was sitting in the living room, could smell the pie and immediately ran into the kitchen to investigate.

"Oh my gosh, Sanza... that pie smells so good, is that for us?"

"Yeah, it is," said Sanza, walking past Maddy and heading right for the stairs. The pie _did _smell good, but Sanza wasn't hungry at the moment... at least not until he got the chance to lie down on his bed for a while. "Don't eat it all, Maddy. Mom left it here for both of us."

As Sanza disappeared up the stairs, Maddy sat down in front of the pie and began staring at it, becoming lost in the fumes as they drifted up into her nostrils.

"This pie smells so good... I don't wanna ruin my supper, but... oooh, I have to have some of it right now!"

Not even bothering to find the silverware, Maddy reached into the pie with her bare hands and pulled out a large chunk, covering her fingers in pie crust and sticky red filling. She began licking the crust and filling off of her fingers, and had soon devoured the entire segment that she had pulled out, then began reaching down to take another.

As Maddy ate, a figure watched from the shadows... she had crouched down in the corner and was watching the small girl as she ate more and more of the pie, her eyes growing wider and wider. As they began to glaze over, Maddy stood up from the table and walked over to the sink, washing her hands and leaving half of the pie sitting in the center of the table.

"That was so delicious," said Maddy, her voice much softer than it had been before. As she spoke, her words came in a haunting monotone, and the figure crouched in the corner had emerged from her hiding spot and was now standing out in the open, waiting for Maddy to turn around. "I must thank mother for making it for me..."

"You're very welcome, Maddy-pie!" came a loving, gentle voice from just behind the small girl. Maddy turned around with a smile, and when she saw the large-headed women standing in front of her, she let out a squeal and gave the woman an enormous hug. "That's right, my child... you love your mother very much, don't you?"

"Of course I do, Mother Mae-Eye! Thank you so much!"

O-O-O

While Maddy was gorging on pie, Beast Boy and Terra were at a nearby ice-cream shop, gorging themselves on a large ice cream sundae. The sundae had been piled high in a large, glass bowl, with dozens of scoops, each one a different flavor of ice cream, showered with whipped cream and sprinkles and topped off with a large, red cherry.

Beast Boy hadn't yet told Terra of his growing feelings for Raven... he knew that he would have to tell Terra eventually, but he also knew that he still loved Terra just as much, if not more than Raven, and that Terra was still the girl that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Seeing her happy, when only a week earlier she had been ready to have a nervous breakdown, brought peace and joy to Beast Boy's mind.

"This place is the best, Beast Boy," said Terra, digging her spoon into the bottom of the sundae and emerging with a large bite of peach ice cream. "You really know how to treat a girl well... I'm so glad we got the chance to come here."

"Yeah..." Beast Boy blushed as he took another bite of the sundae, then left his spoon in the bowl and leaned over toward Terra, his eyes narrowing. "So, uh... it's been a whole week since you've come back... are things still good for you, or are you still having doubts about the whole Teen Titan thing?"

"Well, I've thought it out, and... I just want to do what's best for the city," said Terra. "And what's best for us... you've really kept me going this week, and I appreciate that."

Beast Boy leaned back in his chair, briefly glancing up at the ceiling before once again picking up his spoon and digging it into the sundae.

"You and everyone else have been so nice to me... so supportive of me..." Terra bowed her head, another guilty thought entering her mind. "Even Raven... after all I put you guys through, I just... I'm really glad that you're giving me another chance to be on the team, and I'm glad that you trust me after-"

"Terra, don't worry about it," said Beast Boy, cracking a smile. "It's water under the bridge now, okay? We're alive, you're alive, the city is safe again... you're a good person, and don't ever forget that. I'm just glad that you forgave me for rejecting you..."

"You never rejected me, Beast Boy," said Terra, reaching over and taking his hand. "Even when I was Slade's apprentice, you still believed that I was a good person... even after all the horrible things that I did, even after I tried to kill you, ever after I..."

Terra hadn't noticed it, but she had a tear streaming down the left side of her face, and Beast Boy immediately reached up to brush it away. As soon as Beast Boy touched her, she moved her head and reached up to wipe away the tear on her own.

"No, Beast Boy... it's fine, I'm fine..." said Terra, sniffling as she wiped away the tear. "Let's just... let's finish our ice cream, okay? I'm sorry, I just... _I can't keep doing this... I have to get over what happened, I thought being with Beast Boy would help, but... I still hate myself every time I see him... I have to try and fight it but I can't..._"

The two finished their ice cream while trying to return their conversation to the normal, happy mood that it had once been. They succeeded for the most part, but Terra still couldn't bring herself to forgive all the things that she had once done... she loved Beast Boy, and she hated herself for hurting him... and his forgiveness made her memories all the more painful.

O-O-O

Sanza _was _hungry... and as much as his body hurt, and as much as he just wanted to stay in bed, the allure of the pie sitting on the kitchen table made it just as painful to lie in bed as it was to get up and walk downstairs. His appetite was only compounded by the fact that he'd left his little sister with the pie, and if he didn't go downstairs soon, she'd probably eat it all before he got the chance to take a single bite.

So Sanza climbed out of bed and trudged downstairs to the kitchen, where he saw that there was still a lot of pie left... and that his sister hadn't used anything even resembling etiquette when she'd eaten her share. He could tell from the mess around the plate that Maddy had used her bare hands to eat half of the pie, and when he saw her seated at the table, he found it hard to contain his disgust.

"You used your _hands _to eat the pie?" Sanza shouted, staring into his sister's glazed-over eyes. "That's disgusting... and what's wrong with your face?"

"There's nothing wrong with me, big brother... and I think you should eat the pie, mother made it for us and she would want us to appreciate it."

Sanza stared at the half-eaten pie, which, while it didn't look as good as before, still looked delicious... and its smell was growing stronger and stronger by the second. Sanza could feel saliva beginning to pool in his mouth with every moment he stared at the pie.

"I'd appreciate if you would use a fork next time, Maddy," said Sanza, who couldn't understand why his sister was speaking so strangely, as if in some sort of euphoric high. "And... uh... wouldn't be so creepy right now."

"How am I creepy, big brother?" asked Maddy, tilting her head slightly to the side. "I just want you to appreciate the pie that mother made for us... it's very, very good."

The increasing strangeness with which Maddy was speaking began to peak Sanza's suspicions... and the look in her eyes was becoming downright scary, as if she was somehow being controlled. Something wasn't right, and Sanza had a strange feeling that the pie sitting at the center of the kitchen table had something to do with it.

"Here, Sanza, try a piece," said Maddy, using her hand to scoop up a large chunk of pie and holding her fingers up to Sanza's lips. "Please, it's very good!"

Sanza's eyes widened, and he took several steps back, slowly shaking his head.

"_Something is seriously wrong here," _thought Sanza, his legs beginning to shake as his sister walked toward him. _"She looks like she's on some kind of drug or something... could that pie have something to do with it? I'm starting to wonder if mom even made the pie at all..."_

As Sanza was thinking, Maddy had gotten right in front of him, and was once again holding the pie up to his mouth.

"Mother's not going to be happy if you don't eat any of-"

"And what's with you calling her mother all the time? You never call her that, it's always 'mom' or 'mommy' with you! Something's not right, and-"

Immediately, Maddy jammed the piece of pie into her brother's mouth. He began to spit it out, then his eyes lit up. This pie was _good_... the best he'd ever eaten, and far too good to waste by spitting it onto the floor. He savored the piece of pie, letting the sweet cherry juices soak into his tongue, and chewing it for more than half a minute before slowly swallowing it, his eyes glazing over as the pie slid down his throat.

"Mmmm..." said Sanza, slowly and unknowingly losing his grip on his mind. "That was so good..."

"I know," said Maddy, running over and picking up the rest of the pie, carrying it over to her brother and lifting it up to his chin. "Mother made it just for us, isn't she wonderful?"

"She sure is," replied Sanza, rapidly eating the rest of the pie out of the tin, then letting out a loud burp, licking the remainder of the cherry juices off of his lips. As Maddy returned the pie tin to the table, the woman who had baked the pie once again stepped out of the shadows, a loving smile on her face. "Mother!"

"Hello, my adorable little Sanza-kins!" said Mother Mae-Eye, wrapping her arms around Sanza's back in a tight hug. As soon as she was done hugging Sanza, Maddy rushed over and hugged her as well, and soon, all three of them were hugging, Sanza and Maddy both bearing euphoric grins on their faces. "Mother loves both of her children very much..."

"And we love you too, Mother Mae-Eye!" said Sanza and Maddy in unison, their minds completely won over by Mae-Eye's hypnotic spell.

O-O-O

Starfire, her eyes bright and glowing, flew up into the air and launched dozens of Starbolts toward the ground, where her opponent was standing in a battle-ready position. Her opponent dodged all of the Starbolts, then leapt into the air and swung his staff around at the side of Starfire's head.

"Not this time!" said Starfire, raising her left arm to block the staff, then rushing forward with a kick directly to her opponent's chest, sending him flying across the rocky landscape.

Starfire's opponent was Robin, and for the past hour, the two of them had been training together on the Tower's battle simulator. Starfire had been taken completely by surprise during her battle with Sedaris, and knew that if she wanted to reach his level of strength, she would have to train... and who better to train with than Robin, the strongest and bravest person she knew?

"Aaagh!" shouted Robin as his back impacted hard against a large, granite wall. He slowly stood up and reached down to his side, pulling several Bird-a-rangs from his utility belt and launching them Starfire's way. She took them out with a barrage of Starbolts, then flew toward Robin and struck at his face with a powerful punch. He dodged to the side, allowing her fist to soar past him and become imbedded in the rock wall behind. Then, he swooped around back of her and shot a cable around her arms, pinning them to her sides. "Starfire, you have to get faster, not just stronger..."

"Ungh... I know, Robin, but..." Starfire struggled in the cables, her eyes lighting up as Robin began swinging her around numerous times. "You are much faster than I expected, and-"

"I'm not faster than _you_, Starfire!" Robin said, swinging Starfire into a wall, the force of the impact giving her a small bruise on her left shoulder. She cried out in pain, the cables slipping away from her body and enabling her to rub the injured spot. "You're faster _and _stronger than me, I shouldn't be able to beat you like this, even with my gadgets."

Starfire nodded, but didn't say anything, continuing to stagger toward Robin as she nursed the bruise on her shoulder.

"I believe... that I need a bit more training, but... may we please take a break?"

Robin nodded, and signaled for Cyborg to shut off the environment simulator. He pressed a button at his control console, causing the rocky environment to fade and be replaced with simple white panels. As the simulator turned off, Starfire let out a sigh, bowing her head toward the ground, her eyes clearly showing the shame that she felt.

"Robin, as long as you have known me, you have seen me overcome many things... I have outpaced my sister and at times I have been able to beat even Slade in combat, but... why can I not defeat someone like Sedaris? He may have been enhanced by the government, but... I know that I should be able to beat him, and yet in mere minutes, he had me at his mercy..."

Robin could see the hurt in Starfire's eyes, and he reached up to place his hand on her shoulder... accidentally agitating the bruise that she'd just sustained. She let out a quiet 'ow!' and Robin quickly pulled back his hand, apologizing quickly.

"Starfire, you're the strongest girl I know... I always thought it was really cool how you could be so loving and gentle, and at the same time you could be determined and fierce in battle..."

"Perhaps I should not be as gentle as I am..." said Starfire quietly. "Perhaps that is holding me back..."

"No, Starfire... that's what makes you so wonderful, and such a great fighter," replied Robin, a smile on his face. "Because you're such a caring person, you're very emotional about protecting others, and it makes you a lot tougher... that's how you were able to get better than your sister, even though she's older and should probably be stronger than you. She doesn't care about anyone, but you're always fighting to protect people, and that makes you really strong."

The smile quickly returned to Starfire's face, and she placed her hand to her chest, realizing that everything Robin was telling her was absolutely right... had she not been able to make such wonderful friends, she would have no motivation to fight other than her natural blind rage... which would inevitably lead to her own destruction.

"Thank you, Robin..." said Starfire. "I feel much better now... you are right, I must always remember who I am."

"You're a wonderful person, Starfire... and a wonderful friend."

"As for Sedaris," said Cyborg, looking over at Robin and Starfire, "if we're gonna take _him _down, we'll have to do it working together. He might be tough, but nobody's too tough to be taken down by the Teen Titans."

Robin nodded, while Starfire already felt the rush to get back to training again.

"Cyborg, please resume the simulation... I do not believe that Robin and I are through yet," said Starfire, giving Robin a smirk. Robin smiled, and gave Cyborg a thumbs-up.

"All right then, y'all... resume environment simulation!"

O-O-O

Beast Boy and Terra had already returned to the tower, and were seated together on a couch in the main room, watching television. Terra had once again managed to push her self-doubts to the back of her mind, and was enjoying the time that she had with Beast Boy, whom she loved dearly, despite all of the terrible things that had happened between the two of them in the past.

While they spent time together on the couch, Raven was in her room, her mind focused on meditation, as well as trying to figure out where Sedaris had gotten to. He was no longer at the Mycoso Building... a quick check by Robin that morning had produced neither hide nor hair of the late Dullahan's former bodyguard... but it was imperative that the Titans _did _find him, before he could be allowed to carry out whatever plot that he was making against the city.

"_I can sense his brainwaves from here... a terrible, dark evil lies within his mind, but all I can sense is the evil itself... no direction, just the vibes that he's giving off..."_

With growing alarm, Raven realized that Sedaris' motives were not like any of the other men that had once been in his group. While their motivation for destroying the city was monetary in nature, Sedaris was seeking something else... not money, or power... the dominant motivation that Raven could sense within Sedaris' thought patterns was curiosity. He wanted to destroy the city because he was curious about something.

"_Curious how people would react? Curious of exactly how many people will die? Curious of how it's going to look visually?"_

Every few seconds, her thoughts would be interrupted by emotional patterns given off from Beast Boy and Terra... uncertainty from Beast Boy, and doubt from Terra. She tried to block the thoughts out of her mind, but they kept coming, and soon, her attempts to focus on Sedaris were rapidly becoming futile, as she kept picking up signals from the two Titans just below her in the Tower's main room.

"_Terra I can understand, but... Beast Boy, what in the world are _you _thinking about? What is it that's got you so worried?"_

Raven leaned back in her bed, her head coming to rest on her pillow. She closed her eyes and let out a sigh, still wondering what Beast Boy could possibly be thinking... and wondering why she even cared.

O-O-O

On the Salazars' kitchen table sat nearly two dozen cherry pies, each of them baked to be as delicious as possible. The smell of the pies filled the entire kitchen, and it was doubtful that anyone who smelled the wonderful aroma of the delectable treats would be able to resist their tempting allure.

Seated at the table and getting ready to dig in were Sanza and Maddy, who had each been dressed by Mother Mae-Eye to look as adorable as possible. Sanza was dressed in a frilly blue shirt with wide, puffy sleeves and lacy white trim around his neck, complete with a red bow in the center of his collar. Maddy was dressed in a Japanese schoolgirl outfit, with red, white, and blue sailor top and a short blue mini-skirt.

"Now you children eat as much as you like... and remember, mother loves you!" cooed Mother Mae-Eye, who watched with delight as the two children ravenously scarfed up the pies. "Love, love, love, a mother loves when her children say that they love her!"

"We love you, Mother Mae-Eye!" shouted Sanza and Maddy as they ate pie after pie, with each pie that they ate quickly replaced by another freshly-made pastry. The two children continued to eat for several minutes, their minds completely shifted away from thoughts of their own mother, their love now focused on Mother Mae-Eye. "Mmm, delicious!"

"Well, well, well, both of your tummy-wummies must be completely full by now... I think it's time for the both of you to take a nappy-poo!"

"Awww..." said Sanza, his smile quickly shifting into a frown. "But I'm not tired, Mother Mae-Eye... may I please stay up just a few more minutes?"

"I know you don't feel tired now, Sanza-kins, but if you don't take a nap you'll feel tired later, and you'll be very sad... and mother never wants to see her children sad!"

"But Mother Mae-Eye, I'm not tired either," whined Maddy, her shoulders slumping. "Please, may we stay up just a little bit more?"

"Pleeeeeeeeeease?" chirped Sanza and Maddy in unison, their eyes wide and innocent.

"Well... since you asked me so nicely, I'll let you stay up just a little bit more!"

"Thank you, Mother Mae-Eye!" shouted Sanza and Maddy, their arms wrapping around the deceptive witch's back. Mother Mae-Eye returned the embrace, her arms looping around both Sanza and Maddy and hugging them tightly to her chest. "We love you!"

As the two children hugged Mother Mae-Eye, their bodies were being slowly drained of their life essence, which seeped into Mae-Eye's body in the form of a light, pink mist... and as the mist continued to flow, the witch's eyes began to light up.

"_Yes, that's it... both of you keep giving me your love... and as you do, your delicious energy is slowly becoming mine... mine forever!"_

O-O-O

Though the outside appearance of the apartment had not changed, the inside was now a chocolate-coated paradise of gingerbread men, candy canes, and teddy bears. The kitchen table had become a graham-cracker and marshmallow confection, and the chairs and beds had become licorice and jelly beans. The only thing in the home that _wasn't _made of some form of candy was Maria's bed, which had been transformed into an enormous oven, big enough to fit two children inside. Inside this oven now lay Sanza and Maddy, being tucked gently into what appeared to be a large pie tin.

"There there, my sweet little children... soon, you'll be away in dreamland," said Mother Mae-Eye, gently bending over to kiss Sanza and Maddy on the forehead. "Sweet dreams, my little Sanza-kins..."

"Thank you, Mother Mae-Eye," said Sanza with a yawn, as Mother Mae-Eye bent over to kiss him on the forehead.

"Sleepy-weepy time, little Maddie-pie," said Mae-Eye, giving Maddy a kiss and slowly closing the oven door.

"I love you, Mother Mae-Eye," said Maddy, she too letting out a yawn. The oven closed, and the two children slowly shut their eyes, oblivious to the danger that they were in, even as the oven began heating up.

Every few seconds, Sanza would have a brief moment of clarity... but the haze that Mother Mae-Eye had put him in with her magic was far too strong, and just as Sanza was beginning to realize that he was in danger, he would think about Mother Mae-Eye's love again and drift back to sleep.

"It's getting kind of hot in here," yawned Maddy, rubbing her eyes and shifting her body under the covers. "Maybe mother could get a fan or something... Mother Mae-Eye? Mother Mae-Eye, are you here?"

"Sshhh, Maddy," said Sanza, raising a finger to his lips. "Mother told us to go to sleep, we don't want to make her mad..."

Sanza then let out a gasp, having had another moment of clarity. He shook his head and leaned forward.

"I... I think I have a headache..." said Sanza, sweat now pouring down his face from the effects of the rapidly-heating oven. "Mother Mae-Eye, I need an aspirin..."

"And I need it to not be so hot in here..." said Maddy, crawling out from under the covers and climbing over to the door of the oven. "Mother Mae-Eye? Mother Mae-Eye, are you out there?"

As Maddy began rapping on the inside of the oven door, Mother Mae-Eye sat in the kitchen, intently waiting for the two children to finish cooking. She drummed her fingers on the table, a grin on her green, witchly face as she heard Sanza and Maddy faintly calling from the oven inside their mother's room.

"Naptime is quiet time, children!" said Mae-Eye, taking a large sip of coffee. Her voice suddenly deepened, and became stern and angry. "So both of you pipe down, right now!"

O-O-O

Maria Salazar walked up to the second floor of the apartment building, having had a long day at work and wanting nothing more than to relax with her two children. She placed her hand on the doorknob leading into the downstairs kitchen and slowly pushed open the door, letting out a long, exhausted sigh.

What she saw when she opened the door caused her to nearly drop her purse in shock. Her entire kitchen had been turned into some kind of fairy-tale nightmare, and at her kitchen table sat a large woman with frightening green skin and a large, pointed nose. Mother Mae-Eye saw Maria and rose up out of her chair, leaving the coffee cup that she was using on the table.

"How dare you come here and try to steal my children away from me!" shouted Mae-Eye, pointing her finger at Maria. "They're resting now, and I don't want you disturbing them!"

Maria, her mouth wide-open, began immediately thinking of her son and daughter, who were nowhere to be found. Her eyes narrowed and she clenched her teeth, her parental fury rapidly building.

"Did you just... say that they were _your _children?" growled Maria, tossing her purse into the corner of the room. Her hands curled into fists, and Mother Mae-Eye immediately narrowed her eyes, which began glowing bright pink.

"That's right, they're my little children, and I'm their mother!" said Mother Mae-Eye, cackling loudly before snapping her fingers and forming two large red ribbons that flew toward Maria in order to trap her. Before they could, Maria had reached out and grabbed them, clenching them tightly in her hands and ripping them loose from the wall that they had emerged from. She dropped the ribbons to the floor and ran toward Mae-Eye, overturning the graham cracker table with one mighty toss and sending it crashing into the candy-cane stove at the side of the room.

"You witch... I'll tear you to pieces!" shouted Maria, striking Mother Mae-Eye right between the eyes with her right fist. Mae-Eye stumbled backward and snapped her fingers again, creating hundreds of gingerbread men that leapt upon Maria and began trying to wrestle her to the ground. "Aaaaagh! Ugh... get off me, you little... get off!"

Mae-Eye cackled as Maria fought against the gingerbread men, thinking that within seconds, the woman would be completely overwhelmed. But it was not to be... Maria's rage gave her strength far exceeding her normal abilities, and she was quickly able to toss the gingerbread men off of her body, sending them flying in all directions and shattering them to pieces.

"Where are my children?" shrieked Maria, her hair disheveled by all the fighting that she had been doing against the gingerbread men. The scrunchie that had been keeping her hair in a ponytail had fallen out, and now her long, raven-black locks were draped over the sides of her face, occasionally blown back by Maria when the strands of her obstructed her vision. "TELL ME!"

Before Mae-Eye could say anything, the faint cries of Sanza and Maddy could be heard emanating from Maria's bedroom. The woman dashed out of the room and into the adjacent hallway, flinging open her bedroom door and gasping in horror at the large oven that stood in place of her bed.

"Oh my god, my babies..." Maria rushed over to the oven door and flung it open, only to have Maddy immediately fall into her arms, covered in sweat but otherwise completely unharmed.

"Mother Mae-Eye, can we please have a fan next to our bed, it's much too hot..." whimpered Maddy, still in a hallucinogenic haze brought about by Mae-Eye's magic.

"Close the door..." moaned Sanza, waving one of his arms. "I wanna sleep..."

Maria hugged Maddy tightly to her chest for several seconds before setting her down and forcibly pulling Sanza out of the oven. She then hugged him, while Maddy, getting the first look at her real mother since she'd gotten home, began to snap out of Mae-Eye's spell.

"Mommy?" said Maddy, a confused look on her face as her mind tried to work out the differences between Maria and Mae-Eye. "But... but I thought..."

"Maddy-pie, mother is here..." said Mae-Eye, lumbering back into the room and sweeping Maddy into her arms. "It'll be okay... this bad lady is just trying to take you away from mother... so you have to help mother get rid of her..."

Maria slowly released Sanza from her embrace and looked over at Mae-Eye and Maddy with an expression of pure rage, watching helplessly as Mae-Eye continued to talk to her daughter.

"Just hold her in place and mother will take care of everything," said Mae-Eye, releasing Maddy, who then turned around and looked up into Maria's face.

"Mother will take care of everything..." said Maddy, all the life drained out of her voice as she slowly approached Maria, her eyes completely glazed over. "M...mother will..."

Maddy put her head in her hands, rapidly shaking her head. Her mind was completely conflicted as Mae-Eye's spell was forced to contend with all the memories and thoughts that Maddy had of her real mother... her real memories clashing with the fake ones that Mae-Eye's spell had placed in her mind.

While all of this was going on, Sanza had looped his arms around Maria's waist, pinning the woman's arms in place and holding her as tightly as he could.

"Mother..." said Sanza, glancing around his real mother's back and looking directly into Mae-Eye's face. "I love you, Mother Mae-Eye..."

"Sanza, no!" gasped Maria, struggling violently within her son's grasp. "No... I'm your real mother... please, please try to remember!"

"M...mommy...?" whispered Maddy, turning toward Maria as Mae-Eye slowly walked toward her, holding a large kitchen knife in her right hand. Maria continued to struggle, trying desperately to break the hold that this terrible witch had over her son's mind.

"SANZA, MADDY, SHE'S NOT YOUR MOTHER!" screamed Maria, her legs flailing wildly, tears beginning to form in her eyes.

"But... but she makes pies for us," said Sanza, "and she makes us cookies and gingerbread men, and..."

"_And I am terribly sorry," _thought Maria, stomping down hard on her son's foot and forcing him to release the hold that he had on her body. As Sanza cried out in pain and stumbled back, Mae-Eye held the knife high over Maria's chest, preparing to stab deep into the woman's heart. "And as for you..."

As Mae-Eye's hand came down, Maria grabbed the witch by the wrist and painfully twisted the bone, instantly spraining Mae-Eye's wrist and forcing her to let out a scream and drop the knife from her hands. Mae-Eye's hideous scream drew the attention of Sanza and Maddy, who stood in stunned silence as their real mother let out the full force of her rage.

"You are _NOT _my children's mother!" screamed Maria, striking Mae-Eye across the face with a powerful spinning kick that knocked the witch to the ground with another painful scream. As Mae-Eye weakly attempted to stand, Sanza and Maddy slowly started to come out of the trance that they'd been put under. They blinked their eyes and continued to watch as Maria repeatedly stomped Mae-Eye, forcing her to crawl back into the kitchen, where a single pie was laying on the ground, next to the overturned graham cracker table.

"P...please... I just wanted a little bit of love..." said Mae-Eye in a pleading voice, attempting to gain mercy from Sanza and Maddy's true mother, mercy that Maria had little reason to give.

"You were trying to cook them alive!" screamed Maria, stomping down on Mae-Eye's face and causing the witch to let out another terrible scream. "Now I want you to go right back where you came from, or I'll cook you and eat you myself!"

Mother Mae-Eye only had to take one look at the terrifying and violent anger in Maria's eyes to realize that the woman was certainly ready to follow up on such a horrific promise. With one final scream, Mae-Eye disappeared in a pink puff of smoke which then seeped back into the pie from which it came, imprisoning the terrible witch once more. The inside of the apartment immediately reverted to normal, including the kitchen table, which remained overturned on the floor next to the stove.

Sanza and Maddy, having watched the whole thing from the kitchen's entrance, stood in stunned silence as their mother, breathing heavily, turned slowly toward them, sweat pouring down her reddened face.

"M...mom?" said Sanza quietly, his memories of what had happened to him under Mother Mae-Eye's hypnosis now hazy in his mind. "Uh... what just happened here?"

Without a word, Maria rushed over to her two children and wrapped them tightly up in her arms, kissing them both several times on the cheek as tears began streaming down the sides of her face.

"I love you both so much..." said Maria, nuzzling her cheeks against the sides of her children's faces.

"I love you too, mommy..." Maddy replied, blinking her eyes several times as Sanza slowly slipped out of the embrace, looking down in horror to see what he was wearing.

"This... this is what the Pillsbury Doughboy wears!" screamed Sanza, quickly ripping off the outfit to reveal his real clothing still on underneath. "Ugh! Burn this! Burn this now!"

As Sanza tossed the scrap pieces of fabric into the middle of the living room, Maria began to laugh, wiping the tears from her face and slowly releasing Maddy from her arms. She walked over to Sanza and kissed him on the cheek, supremely grateful that her two beloved children were safe and sound.

"Hey..." said Maddy, looking down at her own outfit with a wide smile, "I really like this... I think I'm gonna wear it all the time!"

Turning to Maddy and realizing how much leg that the miniskirt would be showing if Maddy weren't wearing a longer skirt underneath, Maria shook her head and immediately ordered Maddy to take off the schoolgirl outfit.

"Not in a million years," said Maria, her hands resting on her hips. "You take that thing off, I'm not having you getting kicked out of school for wearing something that doesn't even cover up your whole thighs. Take it off and put it away."

"Yes, mom..."

O-O-O

Starfire strained heavily, her fingers interlocked with Cyborg's as the two faced one another down and attempted to overpower the other. The ground began to crack beneath the two Titans, but neither of them were willing to back down, and both were giving their all, pushing forward with all the strength they could muster.

As the two of them clashed, Robin and Raven exchanged punches and kicks some distance away, Raven using small psychic shields to block the blows that she couldn't block with her arms. The two leapt backward and came at one another again, with Raven's eyes beginning to glow as Robin reached down to his belt.

"Azarath, metreon-"

A large bomb exploded onto Raven, sending out a sticky, green goo that latched onto her face and sealed her lips. As she tried to focus her energy, Robin kicked her to the ground and stood over her with his bo staff ready.

Suddenly, a large section of rock underneath his feet crumbled to pieces, and he fell face-first to the ground. Terra floated above him on a small boulder, which she leapt off of and sent flying his way.

"Let's see you dodge that!" shouted Terra, which prompted Robin to leap to the side, avoiding the boulder completely.

"I just did," said Robin with a smile.

"ZINTHOS!"

The boulder began glowing a bright black, coming back toward Robin and smashing him across the chest, sending him flying across the battlefield. Terra turned to see Raven standing some distance away, her mouth still covered by Robin's green goo. Terra gave her a puzzled look, prompting Raven to point just above her head, where a smiling soulself was floating, its arms across its chest.

"Ah... very impressive," said Terra, just before being interrupted by a violent impact just behind her. She turned to see Beast Boy, transformed into a t-rex and in a perfect position to strike. He let out a roar with such force that it knocked Terra backward and blasted the goo off of Raven's face, then turned and swung his tail right at the two ladies.

"Aaaaaaaaah!" screamed Cyborg, flying over Beast Boy's head and causing the green t-rex to stop in mid-swing. Before he could see just what had happened to his robotic teammate, he was bombarded by a hail of Starbolts, causing him to detransform and fly sideways, landing on top of Robin and Cyborg. As the three groaned and tried to stand up, Starfire, Raven, and Terra walked over to them, looking down and smiling proudly.

"I believe that this time, the girls have obtained victory," said Starfire, turning toward Raven and Terra. "Shall we now do the ritual of celebration?"

"Heck yes," said Terra, raising one of her hands into the air.

"Oh, fine," sighed Raven, rolling her eyes and raising one of her own hands. Starfire high-fived them both, then gestured for Raven and Terra to high-five each other. While this was going on, Robin, Beast Boy, and Cyborg had gotten up and were rubbing the parts of their body that had become sore during the battle.

"Great job, ladies," said Cyborg, "though I'm pretty sure we just about had you there..."

"Yeah, I mean... I totally got the jump on you and Raven, Terra," said Beast Boy, making clawing motions with his hands.

Terra let out a giggle and walked past Beast Boy, closely followed by the other two female Titans.

"You guys lost, so you're making supper tonight," said Raven. "See you in the kitchen."

As the girls exited the training area, Cyborg walked over to the control console and shut off the virtual environment function, then walked with Beast Boy back toward the tower entrance. Robin lagged a few seconds behind them, his mind heavy with thoughts of Sedaris and what he had done to Starfire... and what could happen to the city if he wasn't stopped.

"_I'm glad you're okay, Starfire... but as soon as dinner is over, I'm devoting all of my time to finding Sedaris... he's still a threat to the city, and a big threat to us... and I'm not going to let him get away with everything he's done."_

O-O-O

After supper, and after Robin had retired his room to do research on Sedaris, the other five Titans decided to spend their time in the main room of the tower. Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Terra had parked in front of the television, while Starfire and Raven were seated at the kitchen table, enjoying a batch of cookies that Cyborg had made for desert. For the most part, Starfire had recovered from the injuries that she'd sustained during her battle with Sedaris... though the lopsided result still stung her pride.

"Raven, the next time that we face Sedaris, I will not be beaten so easily..." said Starfire, though Raven could sense the lingering fear that Starfire still had of the abnormally powerful bodyguard.

"Losing hurts, Star... and I know that Sedaris' strength took you by surprise," replied Raven. "Next time we face him, all of us will be working together... he might be able to beat one of us, but he can't beat us all."

"For us to beat him, we will first have to find him..." said Starfire, bowing her head. "I just hope that Robin will be able to locate him soon..."

The door opened, and in came Red X, holding a freshly-baked pie in his hands. Starfire dropped the cookie that she was holding and stood up, rushing over to X almost as quickly as Beast Boy and Cyborg were.

"Dude, you brought us dessert!" shouted Beast Boy excitedly. "Cyborg already made us some cookies, but this pie is just as-"

"I wouldn't eat _this _particular pie," said X, twisting his body to keep the pie out of Beast Boy's ravenous grasp. "Actually, I was hoping one of you could put this pie somewhere where it WON'T get eaten... ever."

Starfire's eyes widened, remembering the bad experience that the Titans had once had with a particularly evil pie, and realizing almost immediately that Red X must've had a similar experience.

"I... I understand," said Starfire, taking the pie from Red X. "I... hope that you are undamaged..."

"It's Mother Mae-Eye that got damaged," said Red X, chuckling slightly. "My own mom is a bit... territorial."

As Starfire exited the room with pie in hand, Terra also rose from the couch and walked over to Red X, scratching her head. Since she'd still been a statue when the Titans had dealt with Mae-Eye, she had no idea who Red X was talking about.

"Could anybody tell me who Mother Mae-Eye is?" asked Terra.

"She's uh... she's one of the weirder baddies the Titans have faced," said Beast Boy, taking Terra's hand and leading her back toward the couch. "I can tell you all about her if you want..."

As Beast Boy and Terra walked away, Red X turned back toward the door. He was about to leave when Cyborg put a hand on his shoulder and gently turned him around.

"You didn't just come to drop off that pie, did ya?" asked Cyborg. "C'mon... I know you're a thief and all, but spend some time with us... after all, we are gonna be fighting Sedaris together, right?"

"Uh... yeah," said Red X, "about him... have you found him yet, or-"

"Robin's been looking," said Cyborg, walking with Red X toward the elevator at the back of the room. "He's upstairs... I figure he hasn't found Sedaris yet, but there's something I always wanted to see that we'd better do right now before I forget."

"What's that?" asked Red X, pushing Cyborg's arm off of his shoulder and turning to face the half-robot as the two stood in front of the elevator. "I've got a schedule to keep, you know..."

"I always wanted to see the two of you facing off in the battle simulator," said Cyborg, "and I've got just the environment I wanna try to have you guys fight in. C'mon, are you up for the challenge, dawg?"

Red X let out a sigh... he'd already fought with Robin enough times for real to know that it wasn't something he wanted to do just for fun... but he _did _need the training, especially if he wanted to have any hope of beating someone as tough as Sedaris. As the thief pondered the matter, his concentration was broken by a loud, boisterous laughing noise from the vicinity of the Titans' couch.

"You had to wear a _bunny _suit?" asked Terra, almost in hysterics. She clutched her stomach and laughed again as tears poured down the sides of her face. "Oh my god, Beast Boy, that's so hilarious!"

Beast Boy chuckled as well, always happy to see Terra laughing, even if it was at his expense... of course, anything that made Terra happy was a good thing, knowing how sad she'd been feeling over the past week. As she continued to laugh, X turned back toward Cyborg and shrugged his shoulders.

"Yeah, I guess I'll fight Robin for your amusement," said Red X, rolling his eyes. "I've got nothing better to do, except my homework..."

"Sweet, I'll get the simulator set up and you go get Robin," said Cyborg, entering the elevator with X, an excited smile on his face. _"But first, I'll go get my camera..."_

As the elevator door closed, Red X took one last look at Terra, who was still laughing loudly on the couch as Beast Boy told her about Raven's reaction to being put in a dress.

"_I used to tell Cleo stories about _my _embarrassing moments all the time..." _thought X, a twinge of sadness passing through him as the elevator began to move up through the shaft. _"She would laugh just like Terra was just now... she knew they weren't my proudest moments, but... hearing about them made her happy... god, why do I still miss Cleo so much?"_

O-O-O

_Several months earlier, Sanza and Cleo sat on the steps of the fire escape just outside Sanza's room. He was telling Cleo of his sister's most recent slumber party... and of all the terrible things that Maddy and her friends had done to him._

"_And you say they tickled you for how long?" asked Cleo, struggling to speak through intermittent giggles._

"_Five hours," said Sanza, letting out a long sigh. "The six of them were like jackals, they completely overpowered me..."_

_Cleo began laughing harder and harder, until tears were flowing rapidly out of her eyes and she had begun hiccuping from laughing so much._

"_Sanza... that... that sounds... oh my god... are you sure... you didn't LET... them overpower you?" With every pause, there was another hiccup... and the entire time that Cleo was talking, she was laughing hysterically. "Sometimes when I'm babysitting and I feel really nice, I'll let the kids do whatever they want to me."_

"_Yeah, well, I have a lot more pride than you do, Cleo..."_

"_But you love your sister and you'd do anything to make her happy, right?"_

"_Yeah... just like I love you, Cleo..." said Sanza, leaning in and giving the red-haired girl a gentle kiss on the cheek. Cleo giggled, then took Sanza's face in her hands and kissed him deeply, her tongue slipping past his lips and into his mouth. The kiss continued for twelve seconds... until Maddy poked her head out of Sanza's window and began yelling down at them._

"_Ooooh... are you guys gonna do it?" _

"_Oh my god..." said Sanza, standing up and clenching his fists. "Maddy, get out of my room! Get out of my room now!"_

_Jogging up the fire escape toward his bedroom window, Sanza let loose with a flurry of Spanish profanities, which of course provoked Maddy to run immediately to her mother and report exactly what Sanza had said to her. The whole time, Cleo was in hysterics, barely able to stand because she was laughing so hard._

O-O-O

"_Cleo..." _thought Red X, sadly shaking his head as the elevator door opened. _"I'm going to make those bastards pay..."_

"Okay, we're on Robin's floor," said Cyborg, letting Red X out. "I'm gonna go fire up the simulator, so you go challenge Robin."

"You think that'll sound good? Me challenging him to a fight while he's trying to find Sedaris?"

"Don't call it a fight, call it practice!"

O-O-O

The simulated environment that Cyborg had set up for Robin and X do to battle in was the roof of an enormous skyscraper, and the two had been fighting for nearly fifteen minutes, neither of them holding back as they pummeled one another with their fists, their feet, and their weapons. Normally, Robin would've been reluctant to interrupt his work for a battle practice session, but the chance to practice with Red X didn't come very often, and without his life or Starfire's on the line, Robin was eager to tussle with the thief, especially when he knew that they both needed the practice.

"Okay, I'm gonna simulate some rain now..."

"No need," said Red X, pointing up at the clouds that had just passed over the moon in the sky over the Titans' practice area. A clap of thunder could be heard in the background, and a flash of lightning lit up the sky. "Well, well, well, this is _very _familiar..."

Robin narrowed his eyes, remembering quite well just how familiar the situation was. A few months ago, he'd done battle with the thief in the park, during a thunderstorm... with Starfire as the prize.

"Can you simulate a tree with Starfire tied to it?" asked Red X, only half-jokingly. "Hmm... ya know, Robin, she's right downstairs, maybe I can ask her to-"

"Yaaaaaaaaaah!" shouted Robin, dashing toward the thief with his bo staff in hand. He took a quick swing at X's head, which the thief blocked with one of his wrist blades before ducking down and firing an X downwards at Robin's legs. The X exploded in a thick smoke that mixed with the falling rain and turned into a noxious mist that began to burn Robin's skin. "Dammit..."

As Robin painfully stumbled back, the thief threw two more Xs at him, which exploded and created a shockwave that knocked the Boy Wonder clear off his feet. Robin hit the ground hard and let out a cry of pain, and Red X rushed toward him, aiming a kick straight at his side.

"No," said Robin, reaching out and grabbing Red X by the ankle. With one motion, the thief had been thrown to the ground, landing on his face next to Robin's side. "How's _that _ground taste?"

"Very bad..." groaned Red X, coughing as he attempted to get to his feet before Robin did. _"Whoa... this _is _a lot more fun than what I had planned tonight... definitely brings back some old memories..."_

O-O-O

As Robin and Red X clashed outside, Beast Boy remained inside the main room... Terra had gone to bed, and Beast Boy was by himself... or so he thought. When he walked toward the elevator at the back of the room, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye... and turned to see Raven, still seated in the kitchen in front of a cookie crumb-filled plate.

"Hey... Raven," said Beast Boy, turning and waving to her. She looked over at him and said nothing, returning her attention to the empty plate and running her hand through her short, blue hair. _"I guess she doesn't want to talk... then again, she never does."_

But he turned and walked toward her anyway, sitting down next to her and attempting to strike up a conversation, just as he always did.

"So, have you heard the one about the-"

"Of course I have," said Raven, cutting off Beast Boy before he could even begin to tell a joke. "I'm sure you've told it to me a million times."

"No, this is a new one, I swear!"

"Look... go talk to Terra, she thinks you're funny, I don't," said Raven with an annoyed sigh. "I had to listen to her laughing about me in a dress for nearly ten minutes."

"...part of that was me in a bunny suit."

"I don't care."

Beast Boy frowned dejectedly, leaning his head on the counter and staring out into the empty room. As he did, Raven could sense the uncertainty welling within Beast Boy's mind... as well as a strong emotion that seemed to be in conflict... with itself. She couldn't quite pinpoint what that emotion was, but she knew that Beast Boy's psyche was in turmoil, and she couldn't help wanting to know what it was.

"So... having any problems lately?"

Beast Boy's ears perked up, and he lifted his head, not believing what he was hearing. Raven wanted to talk to him all of a sudden? Where had _that _come from?

"Uh... no problems, not at all! I'm doing great, Terra's doing great..."

"Are you sure?"

One of Beast Boy's emotions, the one that was in conflict, was strengthening... and for just a moment, Raven could pick up exactly what Beast Boy felt. Then, just as quickly, it was gone, and Raven was again left clueless as to what that emotion was.

"Look, I um... I'm feeling tired," said Beast Boy, standing up and rubbing the back of his head. _"Dammit, I can't talk to her... every time I talk to her I start getting feelings for her, and I just... Terra's back now, Beast Boy, and you love her! Terra!"_

As Beast Boy briskly walked out of the room, Raven turned back to the empty cookie plate, completely confused as to what had just happened.

"O...kay, that was completely normal behavior," Raven muttered to herself, picking up a crumb from the plate and popping it into her mouth. _"Maybe I'm the one that needs to get to bed..."_

Raven stood up and walked out of the kitchen area. Like the others, she was completely unaware of a tiny, blinking light in one of the upper corners of the main room...

O-O-O

Red X clutched his chest, exhausted after his long practice session with Robin. He gasped for breath, and Robin did the same, though the much more thoroughly conditioned Boy Wonder recovered a few seconds before the thief did.

"That wasn't bad," said Robin, smiling as he looked over at Red X. "I think you've improved..."

"And you think that's a _good _thing?" said Red X. "You remember, I'm a thief, and as soon as we get through with Sedaris..."

"I know, I know, you're going right back to stealing again," said Robin, leaning against Cyborg's control console with a casual smirk on his face. "_You _remember, I just beat you. If I can beat you myself, then the team... well, like I said before, you're just like any other criminal, and-"

"And if I keep stealing, you're gonna put me in jail," replied Red X. "Okay, tough guy, we'll see about that. For now, I think I'm through with practice, so..."

"Yeah, all right, I got what I wanted," said Cyborg, smiling as he reached over to turn off the simulation. "Simulation shutting-"

The door to the training area opened, and Robin, Cyborg, and X all looked over to see who had just arrived. It was Starfire, a feigned look of disappointment on her face.

"Oh... it appears that I missed this training session," said Starfire, starting to turn back toward the entrance. "It is all right, I will just-"

"Nah, I think I can go one more round," said Red X, turning back toward Robin. "What about you? You up for another one?"

"Hey Starfire!" shouted Robin, gesturing for the Tamaranian to come over. "Maybe we should make this a tag-team match..."

"Oh, I call Robin as my partner!" said Starfire, rushing over to the group and placing her hand around Robin's shoulder.

"I guess that makes me _your _partner, huh?" said Cyborg, playfully nudging Red X on the elbow. "Well, all right then!"

"Wait, wait, wait, that's not fair..." said Red X, looking into Cyborg's eyes. "As I recall, I _beat _you on this thing a few months ago... I don't know if I want you to be my partner..."

"Well, we could make it a three-on-one handicap match," said Cyborg. "After all, you're already used to fighting all of us Titans at once, so..."

"No, no, that's fine, you can be my partner," replied X, letting out a sigh as he walked past Robin and Starfire to the center of the training area. _"That's just great... I'm going to get my ass kicked _again_. Wonderful..."_

O-O-O

Beast Boy had lied when he said that he was going to bed... instead, he chose to go up to the roof of Titans Tower, and had been sitting there for the past three hours, staring up into the sky and getting the first glimpse of the moon as it re-emerged from the clouds after the night's recent thunderstorm. He let out a long sigh, his thoughts drifting back and forth between Terra and Raven.

"_It would never work out between Raven and me... she practically _hates _me... and besides, it's not like Terra's second-best... Terra's just as awesome as Raven, she listens to me, she laughs at my jokes, we do all sorts of stuff together... it's just... she doesn't know me like Raven does..."_

Whenever Beast Boy had been feeling sad, Raven had always been there for him... even if she was reluctant to do so, she was still there. She didn't hate Beast Boy, the two of them were friends, good friends, despite the fact that the two were almost nothing alike... that they frequently bounced insults off of one another, that they'd both openly stated when the other was unable to speak that they liked it better that way.

Beast Boy still cared deeply about Raven, and he knew that she cared deeply about him... though it may not have been the same _kind _of caring. As for Terra... Terra was the kindest, most fun girl that Beast Boy had ever met, and during the short time that the two had been friends, they'd fallen in love... despite the horrific falling out that the two had once had, their friendship and love remained strong, and Beast Boy still knew that he loved Terra...

Just as tears were beginning to form in Beast Boy's eyes, the door to the roof opened, and an exhausted Red X began walking toward him, repeatedly wiping his hand over his forehead.

"Dude... I thought you would've left by now," said Beast Boy, standing up and turning toward the battle-weary thief. "It's almost midnight..."

"Yeah, well... time flies when you're having fun, and fighting you Titans is _fun_," said Red X, reaching up and removing his mask. "Damn... I'm so hot right now... it's nice and cool up here, though..."

Sanza tossed his mask down on the floor and walked over to the edge of the roof, sitting down and allowing his feet to dangle off the side. Beast Boy sat down next to him, staring up into the sky and once again thinking about Terra and Raven.

"Sanza... can I tell you something?" asked Beast Boy, looking into Sanza's eyes. "You can't tell anyone, got it?"

Sanza chuckled slightly, wiping his forehead and taking a quick breath.

"Yeah... go ahead."

"Well... you see, I... I... Terra and I are-"

"Getting married?" asked Sanza. "That's awesome, Beast Boy... congratu-"

"Sanza, this is serious. Terra and I are together, but... but there's another person on this team... I mean, I... I sorta... I have feelings for..."

"Dude, it's okay. Starfire's a great girl, I've been wanting to get into her pants for like a year. Don't worry, I won't tell Robin."

Beast Boy let out an angry growl. It was beginning to appear that Sanza wasn't the right person to ask about his problem... but then Sanza quickly became serious, and stopped chuckling.

"Sorry, I've just been under a lot of stress lately and I need to get it out any way I can, so I decided to mess with you. You can tell me now."

"Sanza, I like Terra _and _Raven... I think I love them both... and I really can't decide which one I want to... I mean, I know Terra loves me and Raven doesn't, but... I just..."

Beast Boy looked away from Sanza and placed his head in his hands, clearly mad at himself for allowing his heart to lead him into such a conundrum. It was at that point that Sanza placed his hand on Beast Boy's shoulder and tried to give him the best advice that he could.

"I remember a time when I had to choose between Starfire and Cleo... I mean, I loved Starfire... Cleo was just another girl from my school, we were friends, but... then we became more, and I realized that Cleo was the girl that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with."

Now Sanza was feeling sad, and he too bowed his head, remembering how well _that _had gone.

"But... I guess things with Cleo didn't work out, and Starfire _definitely _loves Robin, so... I'm totally screwed," said Sanza. He stood up and walked away from Beast Boy, back toward the roof's entrance. He'd gotten to thinking of Cleo again, and now he was tired, both physically and mentally. All he wanted to do was go home... he bent down and picked up his mask, putting it back on his face.

"But that doesn't help me!" shouted Beast Boy, standing up and turning to face Red X. "You didn't tell me who I should-"

"I don't care," Red X replied, looking Beast Boy right in the eyes. "The only thing I can say is that one day, you're going to _have _to choose... I don't know when, but it's the best advice I can give. I'll see you around."

Red X walked off, leaving Beast Boy alone on the roof with no one to talk to and still no solution to his problem. Obviously, it would be something that he'd have to work out on his own... but Red X's 'advice' hadn't helped him at all. It just made Beast Boy feel much worse.

O-O-O

Terra walked out of her room dressed in only a light-blue nightgown, her bare feet jogging along the cold floor of the hallway as she walked toward the elevator. She wanted to go downstairs to get a glass of water, but as she turned the corner, she bumped right into a masked figure who was also attempting to find the elevator.

"You..." whispered Terra, pointing at Red X at he placed his hand to his forehead. "I thought you'd gone home..."

"So did your boyfriend," groaned Red X, having taken the brunt of the impact with Terra and adding an aching forehead to the other pains in his body. "I'm just about to go now..."

Terra stepped back to allow X access to the elevator, but as he walked, a thought crossed Terra's mind, and she reached out to stop him, her hand gently touching his shoulder.

"Cyborg did that earlier tonight, and four hours later, I'm still here," said Red X, not bothering to turn around. "I'm done training for tonight..."

"I just want to talk," said Terra, and reluctantly, the thief turned to face her. "I want to know something... after we beat Sedaris, are you... are you going to be an enemy of the team again?"

It was a strange question for Terra to ask, and Red X didn't know how best to respond.

"It's just that... I've never fought you before, and you... you really seem like a good person," said Terra, obviously remembering the promise that the thief had made to her before... that he would always be her friend, no matter what he did... and friends didn't fight one another, did they? _"Then again... I turned on _my _friends..."_

"No, if you guys stay out of my way. All I want to do is steal, but every single time I try, the Titans always seem to show up. If they didn't try to stop me, I wouldn't have to fight them."

"...if you didn't steal, they wouldn't fight you," said Terra, giving a sly smile. Then, her expression saddened, and she bowed her head. "Then again... I guess stealing isn't so bad... compared to some of the things _I've _done... I mean, you've never hurt anyone like I have..."

Red X could sense the sadness in Terra's voice, and felt a twinge of sympathy for the girl, knowing from what the Titans had said about her that she'd once betrayed them... that she'd even tried to kill them, and that she'd willingly become Slade's apprentice. It was all because of her powers that she couldn't control... and in a way, had been by no fault of her own.

"Look, I know you might have done bad things in the past, but... you're a way better person than I am, kid... Terra..." He reached over and placed his hand on her shoulder, which she started to try and move away, but then looked up into his eyes and sadly shook her head. "It's true... I had the chance to sacrifice myself to take out Slade just like you did, but... I couldn't go through with it... you're braver than I could ever be, no matter how tough I seem sometimes... I couldn't match up to someone like you."

It was a surprisingly candid comment from Red X, but he did truly sympathize with this girl... the both of them had been horribly victimized by Slade, and both knew how terrifying he could be.

"It's not just that I betrayed the Titans... all the stuff I did with my powers before, I... I hurt people... I caused horrible accidents, I-"

"You couldn't control your powers... it's nothing to be ashamed of. If I couldn't control myself, I... I would've done things that were much worse... there was this time that I had Starfire helpless, and if I hadn't been able to control myself, I... _would've done the same thing to her that that bastard Lonnie did to Cleo..._"

Red X was being completely sincere and honest with Terra... he had opened up to her, and she began to feel a sense of peace, just like she had the last time the two of them had spoken.

"Thank you..." said Terra, reaching up and brushing her hand across Red X's cheek. "I... I'm starting to feel like I can... like I can tell you anything... _even more than I can tell Beast Boy..._"

"I made you a promise and I'm going to keep it," said Red X, taking one last look at Terra before walking over to the elevator and getting inside. Terra had turned back toward her room, no longer needing a glass of water... her conversation with Red X had given her all the comfort that she needed. "Good night..."

The elevator closed, and Red X leaned his head against the door, almost ready to fall asleep right there.

"_I never realized it before I saw her in that nightgown, but... that girl Terra really has it going on... what the hell am I thinking, she's with Beast Boy, and I'm pretty sure that he's gonna come to his senses and give his heart to her. After all, Raven doesn't even give him the time of day..."_

Red X stepped out of the elevator and walked through the darkened main room of the tower, heading toward the front door.

"_Speaking of Raven... she doesn't look too bad either... nah, forget about her. If she's anything like the kids at the goth table in the lunchroom... how could Beast Boy have a hard time picking between Terra and _her_?"_

O-O-O

The next afternoon, while Sanza was at school and the other Titans were at lunch, Robin stepped into a large, empty warehouse, having received a distress call on his T-Com and instructions to arrive at the location alone. He knew that it could be a trap, but also knew that if someone was truly in danger, deviating from any given instructions would just put the person even more at risk.

The second he reached the center of the warehouse, he felt a powerful kick to the side of the head. The kick sent him flying several yards across the floor, and with a single motion, he managed to land on one knee while at the same time extending his bo staff and turning in the direction of the kick.

"You..." Robin said, his eyes narrowing in a hateful glare.

"I didn't think you'd actually come by yourself," replied Sedaris, having abandoned his tuxedo for a white t-shirt, blue jeans, and a dusty leather vest, garb that clearly displayed his imposing, muscular physique. "You're a bigger fool than I thought."

"After what you did to Starfire, I'm mad enough to beat you by myself," said Robin, rushing at Sedaris and bringing his bo staff down at the man's head. Sedaris blocked the staff with his wrist, then lunged forward and attempted to strike Robin with a shoulder charge. Robin leapt into the air, avoiding Sedaris' shoulder and getting behind him, swinging his staff hard at the small of Sedaris' back. "It's you who should be wishing for backup!"

The impact of the staff was painful even for someone as strong as Sedaris, who let out a scream and stumbled forward, only to have Robin hit him again, this time across the shoulder blades. Sedaris bowed forward, leaving his legs completely exposed to a vicious chop block. Robin dove at the back of Sedaris' ankles, sending the muscular man face-first to the ground, groaning in pain.

"Very good."

"I'm not done," said Robin, shooting his Birdcable at the downed Sedaris, who suddenly rolled over and grabbed the end of the cable, yanking it violently and sending Robin several feet into the air. "Aaaaaaaah!"

Robin came down hard on his back, while Sedaris stood up and stomped repeatedly on Robin's chest, each time eliciting a louder response.

"_I'm not giving up that easily..." _thought Robin, rolling out of the way and shooting his cable at Sedaris again. This time, he was successful, pinning the man's arms to his sides and temporarily stopping his attack. He stood up and gave the cable a hard yank, only to be kicked right in the face and knocked to the ground again. Sedaris smiled viciously and flexed out his arms, instantly snapping the cables and sending pieces of the strong, wiry material flying across the room.

"You get credit for knocking me down, but not much else," said Sedaris, picking Robin up by his collar and flinging him across the warehouse. Robin smashed hard into a wall, screaming again and slumping against it, his entire body throbbing with pain. "Fortunately for you, I didn't bring you here to kill you."

Robin slowly picked himself up, nursing his injured shoulder and narrowing his eyes at Sedaris, still wanting to fight.

"I came here to tell you exactly where I'm going to be... and that you should hurry up and stop me, if you can. Bring the whole team if you want... I'll be looking forward to the challenge. We'll be in an old military bunker east of the city... I think you're familiar with it, it's the only structure of its kind within a hundred miles of here."

"What... what do you gain by telling us this?" shouted Robin, his hand slowly reaching toward his utility belt. "You know we're going to stop you..."

Sedaris ran toward Robin, clearing the gap between the two of them before Robin could put out any of his gadgets. He grabbed Robin's arm and wrenched it tightly behind his back, causing the already-injured crime fighter even more pain.

"No, Robin... if you show up, you'll all be destroyed... but I welcome you to try."

Sedaris threw Robin roughly to the ground and ran out of the warehouse. Groaning in pain, Robin slowly rose to his feet, feeling that his right shoulder had been dislocated. He gritted his teeth and popped the shoulder back into place, letting out a loud, agonized scream.

"_Why... why did he tell me?" _thought Robin, limping toward the warehouse exit and nursing his stinging right arm. _"He's laying a trap for us... but... but it's the only lead we have... DAMMIT!"_

O-O-O

That evening, while Sanza was passing between the kitchen and the living room, he heard a loud ringing from the phone mounted next to the door.

"I'll get it," said Sanza, waving off his mother and putting the phone to his ear. "Hello?"

"Sanza... this is Robin. We're going after Sedaris. Get your Red X suit and meet us at the military bunker east of town... be there in half an hour."

"Damn, and I'm still sore from kicking your butt last night... all right, I'll be there."

Sanza hung up the phone and turned to his mother, who put down her cooking pot and gave her son a curious glare.

"Who was that?" asked Maria. "And you'll be... where?"

"Mom... I'm going to need to borrow the car."

O-O-O

It's about to begin, the assault on Sedaris' headquarters... but just why is he so eager to have the Titans come to his bunker? Is he leading them into a trap, and can they overcome it and save the city? And just what _is _Beast Boy going to do about Raven and Terra? These questions and more will all be answered in the next exciting chapter!


	18. Descent Into Danger

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Teen Titans. If I did, this would be on TV and not here. 

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This doesn't take place in the same storyline as my "Forced Base" and "Fractured Heart" stories, so forget those when you're reading this. Also, about Sanza/Red X: When he's wearing the mask, he's Red X. When he's not, he's Sanza. Simple as that.

SECOND AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a sequel to "The Life and Times of Red X", which is in my profile. Read that before you read this. Also, this fic COMPLETELY IGNORES the events of the fifth season (with the exception of "Go"). For the purposes of this fic, "Things Change" NEVER HAPPENED.

O-O-O

The outside of Sedaris' desert bunker was completely devoid of human life, save for the group of six teenage superheroes who had gathered around the rusty, metallic door at its entrance. The bunker was bathed in the light of the setting sun, light that was supplemented by the distant glow of the Jump City skyline off to the west.

The Titans had no way of knowing whether or not they were being led into a trap, but the desert bunker was their only lead, and the risk to the city was far too great to let any stone go unturned. Sedaris was planning something... the Titans knew that for sure.

"I'm gonna wait five more minutes, then we go in," said Robin, his arms crossed over his chest as he stood in front of the bunker's entrance. He, like the other members of his team, was waiting for Red X, the thief turned part-time hero, whom Robin had contacted thirty-five minutes earlier. He'd told the thief to arrive in a half-hour, and now he was five minutes late, and trying the patience of everyone on the team... everyone except for Beast Boy.

"I'm sure he's gonna be here... I mean-"

"There he is!" shouted Starfire, pointing toward a small, but rapidly growing dust cloud off in the distance. The Titans turned toward the cloud, at the center of which was a shining red convertible quickly making its way toward them. In the driver's seat was Red X, who steered the car right up to the side of the bunker and leapt out without even bothering to open the driver's-side door.

"You're late," said Robin, prompting X to shrug his shoulders and continue toward the bunker's entrance. "Did you hear me? I said-"

"Are we gonna do this thing, or what? I've got shows to watch tonight, and as much as I hate Sedaris, I hate missing Carlos Mencia's opening monologue even more. Let's go."

The thief placed his handle on the door leading into the bunker and began tugging as hard as he could. After a few seconds, the door opened with a loud, high-pitched creak, and the Titans entered, followed by X himself, who closed the door behind him.

"This... is actually pretty close to what I expected," quipped Raven.

The Titans and X now found themselves in a long, dirty hallway, lit only by a few swinging lamps placed every couple dozen feet or so. Occasionally, one of the bulbs would flicker, temporarily shrouding a small segment of the corridor in total darkness. The inside of the bunker was cooled only by an ancient air-conditioning system that circulated air with a dull grinding that could be heard through the ceilings and walls.

This slightly creepy atmosphere added to the sense of foreboding that the group began to feel as they continued down the hallway, none of them having any idea whether or not Sedaris was leading the Teen Titans right where he wanted them.

"So... out of curiosity," said Terra, looking over at Red X, who was now standing just to her right, "why were you late, exactly?"

"That's my mom's car," replied X, not looking at Terra but instead staring straight out into the darkness of the hallway. "It took her a little while to convince her to let me borrow it."

"It... is a nice car," said Terra, looking down at the floor with her hands in her pockets. _"Must be nice to have a mom, too..."_

As X and the Titans continued to walk, they noticed that the hallway had been built as a gradual incline, leading the team deeper and deeper into the earth... and once they passed a certain point, the walls no longer possessed the metallic qualities that they had near the entrance, but were instead comprised entirely of stone. Sedaris' bunker was, in actuality, a cave... and Terra smiled to herself, knowing that she was now completely in her element... just so long as she didn't cause a cave-in.

"Okay, this isn't good," said Cyborg, looking to his left and then to his right. The long hallway that the Titans had been traveling down continued, but now, the cave had branched off with passages leading to the left and to the right, and the group was now faced with three distinct ways that they could go, each of them giving no hints about what exactly lay beyond the threshold. "Looks like we got a decision to make..."

The Titans had been faced with splitting up before, but in a mission like this, where the enemy that they could potentially face was so dangerous, a division of force did not seem like a comfortable battle strategy. Sedaris had easily been able to beat Robin and Starfire in one-on-one confrontations, and may well be able to defeat two or more Titans at once. Should any of the split-up groups encounter him, they would be in _no _position to stop whatever terrible deed he was planning.

"We're going to have to split up," said Robin, reluctance clearly evident in his voice. He turned to Starfire. "Star, you and I will head down the path to the left... Raven and Terra, you go to the right."

The empath and the geomancer looked at one another, both of them immediately recalling their checkered past... as Teen Titans, they'd both worked together and had fought against one another... when they used their powers in harmony, they were a force to be reckoned with, but when they clashed, they put both themselves and others at great risk.

Beast Boy too was wary of Raven and Terra being placed together, though he was a bit relieved to get away from the two of them, knowing that he still faced the horrific dilemma of being in love with both of them and not being able to tell either about the conundrum. He let out a sigh and turned to Cyborg, who he would obviously be paired up with next.

"And Cyborg and Beast Boy-"

"Already got it," said Cyborg. "Straight ahead... I bet it'll be easy goings for the both of us. C'mon, Beast Boy."

Beast Boy nodded, then turned to Raven and Terra, who were already standing together at the mouth of the tunnel leading to the right.

"Both of you... be careful," said Beast Boy, walking over to Terra and wrapping his arms around her. "I know you guys might have had a lot of bad mojo in the past, but-"

"We'll be just fine," said Raven, watching as Beast Boy slowly released Terra from the embrace, then turned to her and attempted to do the same. "I don't think so."

Letting out another sigh, Beast Boy turned away from Raven and began walking back toward Cyborg, stopped only when Terra reached over and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey..." said Terra, smiling and leaning in to give Beast Boy a kiss on the cheek. "You be careful too..."

"Everyone should be careful," said Robin, "and if you see Sedaris or any sort of large machine, use your T-Com to get a hold of the others. I don't want any of the groups to engage Sedaris on their own... that even goes for me and Starfire."

Red X, who had been watching the proceedings for the past couple of minutes, was surprised that Robin hadn't given him any orders yet... and began to realize that the Titans' leader might actually be respecting his autonomy... which gave him cause to smile.

"I guess I get to pick which couple I want to go with," said Red X, and Robin immediately replied with a nod.

"You're not a Teen Titan, so you can do whatever you want," replied Robin, though he did speak with a hint of contempt, letting the thief know that he didn't appreciate the fact that Red X still didn't respect him. "My only standing order to you is to be careful."

"I can take care of myself," said Red X, "and right now, I think Beast Boy and Cyborg need a little taking care of, so... I'll go with them."

X's remarks managed to tweak one of Cyborg's nerves, and he gave the thief a frown as he walked over toward the center of the tunnel. By now, Raven and Terra had already begun making their way down the right-hand tunnel, and Robin and Starfire had stayed only to see Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Red X off.

"Remember, if you see any sign of Sedaris, call the others," said Robin, before he and Starfire turned and began walking down the left-hand tunnel, leaving the thief and the two Titans alone in the hallway.

"Well, you heard Robin," said Cyborg, gesturing for the other two to follow him down the center of the tunnel. "We got a bad guy to catch, so let's move out!"

Perturbed about the fact that Cyborg had taken on the role of de facto leader of the group, Red X lagged behind for a couple of seconds, then followed behind Beast Boy and Cyborg from a few feet away, intently watching for any guards that might happen to leap out of the shadows. The three began to pass several metallic doors built into the cave walls, but upon a quick inspection, found that the rooms merely contained supplies such as canned food and first-aid equipment, supplied that would come in handy following the nuclear attack that the bunker had been built in preparation for.

The trio passed by several more such rooms before reaching a small, circular room that upon first glance appeared to be a dead-end. Only when Cyborg walked over to the back of the room and lifted up a small, metallic disc built into the floor did he find that there was a small ladder leading further down into the bunker.

"It looks kinda spooky in there," said Beast Boy, a bit reluctant to go down into the dark, narrow hole. Red X quickly pushed past him, crawling down into the hole and slowly climbing the rusted rungs built into the stone wall. "Hey, I said it looked spooky, not that you could-"

"It's just fine down here," X yelled up, prompting Cyborg to squeeze in after him. Letting out a sigh, Beast Boy threw up his hands and climbed down into the hole, attempting to comfort himself by thinking of one of his memories of Terra... a memory clouded by the fact that she may not even be first in his heart.

"_I wonder how Raven and Terra are doing... I hope they're getting along okay..."_

O-O-O

The passageway that Raven and Terra had gone down was much shorter than the one that Beast Boy's group had taken, and the two girls found themselves at a dead-end much, much sooner. They'd entered a small, empty room through a metallic door, and now found themselves with no idea where they were supposed to be going... the room was comprised entirely of stone, with the exception of its solid metal floor.

"This can't be a dead-end," said Raven, closing her eyes and touching one of the walls of the room. "I can sense something just outside these walls."

As Raven attempted to discern exactly what that something was, Terra leaned up against the opposite wall of the room and watched the cloaked girl, her mind replaying memories of every single encounter that the two of them had had. More guilt began pouring into Terra's mind, and she briefly shut her eyes to block out the feelings, inadvertently transmitting an emotional signal that Raven picked up immediately.

"The best way to make yourself feel better is to help me figure out what kind of a room we're in," said Raven, still attempting to sense objects through the walls.

"I'm not sure I can..." said Terra quietly. "A space like this... if I screw up, I could cause a cave-in, and then we'd both be-"

"Slade taught you to control your powers, you're not going to screw up. Just help me."

Raven's remark brought even more painful memories back to Terra, and she gritted her teeth, roughly grabbing Raven by the shoulder and turning her around.

"Don't _ever _bring that name up again! I screwed up, but you don't need to constantly be rubbing it in my face, okay? Especially after everything you and I have been through!"

Raven, surprised by Terra's sudden burst of emotion, took a step back and attempted to refocus on her work, only to have Terra continue her rant.

"You saw that I'm still not in total control yet... at that baseball stadium, remember? I caused an earthquake and I couldn't stop it! If I cause one in here, who knows what might-" As Terra was speaking, one of her arms had come to rest on the wall of the chamber, just to the right of the door. Suddenly, a loud, metallic clanging could be heard, and the room that the two girls were in began to jerk back, then slowly move downward, a motion which made Terra immediately think the worst and bow her head fearfully. "Oh my gosh, what did I... what's happening?"

"I think you just loosened this old elevator from the rocks," said Raven, glancing over at the door as the room came to a stop. "It must've jammed because of all the rust that built up on the cables... but I guess it's fine now."

Terra let out a sigh of relief, walking over to the door and opening it up, wanting only to forget the emotional outburst she'd just had and to get on with saving the city... but as she started to leave, Raven gently grabbed her arm, causing Terra to look back.

"Look... if we're going to work together, you can't be like this... _ever_," said Raven, walking around Terra and exiting the elevator, continuing to speak to her as she made her way down another stony hallway, this one reinforced with large, steel buttresses built into the walls. "This is an important mission, and you can't spend your time thinking about the past... I'm willing to trust you, but only if you keep your emotions under control. Got it?"

"...I got it," said Terra, timidly following Raven through the tunnel, while at the same time thinking about what the cloaked girl had just told her... _"I thought keeping emotions under control was _your_ problem, Rae..."_

O-O-O

"Robin... I know that you fought against Sedaris today, but... how much did he... did he hurt you?"

Starfire still remembered vividly her fight with Sedaris, and how it had almost cost her her life... parts of her body still ached, two days removed from the fight inside a catering room and broom closet at the Jump City theater. Just thinking about having a gallon of cleaning solution poured into her eyes made both of them sting a little, and she'd even had a nightmare about the fight, but had neglected to tell Robin for fear that it might make him worry.

"I'm fine, Starfire," said Robin, his right shoulder still sore after he'd had to pop it back into place after the fight. "I've had lots worse... remember when my arm was broken?"

"Oh... yes..." Starfire still could not help worrying about Robin, and she knew that he still worried greatly about her. The relationship between the two of them was still one of few words, and the words that _did _emerge were mostly from Starfire's end... though Robin had admitted his feelings to Starfire several months before, he still rarely spoke about the bond between the two of them, and Starfire accepted, reluctantly, that Robin would still be very closed and private about his feelings. "I am just glad that you are mostly undamaged... I cannot express enough how dismayed I felt when I heard that you had engaged Sedaris by yourself..."

"I wasn't going to let him get away with what he did to you, Starfire... I couldn't, not after seeing you like you were two nights ago..." The two of them were now passing through several storerooms, most of them filled with long racks of assorted weaponry, ranging from melee weapons such as clubs and knives, to weapons such as assault rifles and grenades, obviously intended to repel a land invasion by Soviet invaders after the first bombs were dropped. "But we _will _get Sedaris... we'll get him together, and we'll make sure he'll never hurt anyone again. I promise."

Starfire smiled, gently reaching over to take Robin's hand as the two exited the last of the storerooms. Just before her fingers could reach his, and before the two had entirely exited the room, someone grabbed Starfire from behind and tossed her into one of the weapon racks, eliciting a loud scream from the stunned Tamaranian.

"STARFIRE!" shouted Robin, turning around only to be leapt upon from behind by a tall man in a camoflauge jumpsuit, taking an assault rifle and pressing it across Robin's neck to cut off his oxygen. As he attempted to fight off the man behind him, two more came, repeatedly punching and kicking at the trapped Boy Wonder, now pinned against a metallic door. He continued to try and fight off the men, while at the same time gazing across the room for any sign of Starfire. _"God dammit... if they've taken her..."_

Summoning up an incredible amount of strength and dexterity, Robin managed to propel himself into the air, pressing his feet against the chests of the two men in front of them and pushing them both backwards. At the same time, this exerted a force on the man behind Robin, knocking him back into the door and causing him to drop the rifle that he'd placed across Robin's neck. This allowed Robin to elbow the man in the stomach. He then whipped himself around, extending his bo staff and smacking it hard across the man's chest. He let out a loud, pained gasp and slumped unconscious against the door.

"Stay down," said Robin, before then turning around again and swinging his staff across the faces of the two men he'd knocked back. They too cried out in pain, falling backward and passing out as soon as they hit the ground. His attackers now defeated, Robin could once again look around the room for Starfire, hoping that the people who'd grabbed her weren't already long gone by now. "Starfire? STARFIRE! _Please... please be safe..._"

Four men suddenly flew out of the shadows of the room, all of them unconscious, landing on top of the three men that Robin had knocked out earlier. A dim, green light appeared in the darkness, and soon after appeared Starfire, a wide smile on her face as she caught sight of her friend.

"Robin!" called Starfire happily, floating over and wrapping her arms around his back. "I am glad that you are safe..."

"I'm glad too," replied Robin, concealing most of his relief. "We need to hurry... _I just hope that the others are doing well..._"

O-O-O

Raven and Terra continued down the long, dark tunnel, most of its swinging lamps having already burned out, causing the two of them to spend most of their time in darkness. Though the darkness gave Raven little discomfort, it only added to the growing uneasiness within Terra, whose grudge toward Raven had begun to resurface.

"How do you even know where we're going?" asked Terra, as Raven continued forward through the cavern, not stopping even for a second to check for alternate passages hidden in the shadows. "There are times when I can barely see my hand in front of my face, how can you-"

"I just know," replied Raven, peering through the darkness and seeing an opening at the end of the tunnel, leading to what appeared to be an enormous, light-filled room. "You need to calm down."

"_I need to calm down?" _thought Terra, her legs beginning to tremble as she and Raven continued walking. "Look, I'm just... I'm just worried about Sedaris."

"No, you're not," said Raven, stopping in front of the entrance to the large room and turning to face Terra, the contrast between the dark tunnel and the light room causing Raven's body to appear as a silhouette in the shadows. "You're worried about losing control of your powers again. You're worried about me not trusting you. You're worried about Beast Boy being worried, and essentially, you're worried about everything _except _Sedaris."

Raven's tolerance with Terra's constant self-depreciation was being strained to the breaking point, but the cloaked empath had mostly chalked it up to lingering guilt. Now it was clear that Terra's guilty conscience was starting to take its toll on the entire team, including Beast Boy.

"If we're going to work together, then you need to get over yourself, and-"

"Get over myself?" shouted Terra, walking toward Raven and clenching her fists. "All I've been thinking about these past few days is the _team_, Raven! If I was thinking only of myself, I never even would've come back to the Tower! I've been through a lot, so don't blame me for how I feel! All I've been feeling this past week is guilt, guilt about hurting Beast Boy, guilt about hurting _you_! You were my friend, Rae..."

Raven said nothing, turning away from Terra and walking into the open room, the bunker's meeting area, where all of the people inside could gather. It was an enormous open area, with enough floor space for several thousand people. Near the edges of the room stood several stone pillars that supported a large, balcony-like platform that spanned half the room's perimeter, and past the pillars on the other side of the room lay an area concealed by shadow, quite possibly leading to more of the bunker's many rooms.

"She's just going to ignore me..." said Terra quietly to herself as Raven slowly walked toward the center of the room. "I was telling her something important, but it was like she didn't even care... she still must hate me for..."

But Raven wasn't ignoring Terra out of hatred or spite... she simply wanted Terra to focus on the mission at hand, which was preventing Sedaris from being able to execute the destruction of the city. It wasn't the time for personal matters... those could be dealt with after Sedaris was defeated.

"There's nothing in here, we need to continue forward," said Raven, walking toward the shadowy area past the stony pillars. As she began to walk, she noticed out of the corner of her eye that something was moving on the balcony above... and a step back and a look up confirmed her suspicions. Standing on the balcony were twenty men, each wearing identical camouflage jumpsuits and each of them armed to the teeth. Terra had already seen the men, and was crouched into a fighting position at the center of the room.

Even Terra now knew that she would have to shelve her personal demons, at least temporarily... she and Raven had twenty guards to fight. They leapt down from the balcony and charged the two female Titans, who immediately went into the air, Raven levitating herself with her powers, and Terra floating on a large, flat rock.

The girls had no idea of knowing that the twenty men were only the first of many to come...

O-O-O

The area that Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Red X had descended into was built like the area near the entrance to the bunker... its walls made of metal and concrete, with fluorescent lamps built into the ceiling that provided a great deal of light for anyone who might be wandering the hallways.

The three had made their way into the bunker's war room, a room with a large wooden table in the center and hundreds of papers and books strewn about. While Cyborg and Beast Boy were attempting to find the room's exit, Red X had picked up one of the stacks of paper and had begun flipping through it, curious of its top-secret contents.

"Official emergency recovery plan for San Francisco, Oakland, and Jump City... in case of nuclear attack on the Bay Area, all rations will be distributed as follows... sixty percent to San Francisco, thirty percent to Jump City, ten percent to... heh, Oakland's getting hosed, I know some people this'll really piss off..."

Red X jammed the papers under his suit into one of the pockets of his jeans, looking around the room for more literature to peruse.

"I know this stuff might be interesting to you, but we're here to look for Sedaris!" said Cyborg, walking past the table and peering around a shelf where more books were stacked. "Here, I found the-"

"That's the door we came in," said Red X, pointing over his shoulder at another door that led out into the hallway. "_That's _the way out... I was gonna say something but I wanted to read some of these documents first."

As Cyborg stormed toward the door that Red X had indicated, Beast Boy emerged from a large stack of papers, holding up a blue sheet.

"This says that comic books lead to communism!" shouted Beast Boy indignantly. "Can you believe that?"

"Guys, we gotta go," said Cyborg, standing in front of the open door. "With every second we spend in here, Sedaris could be-"

"One of the generals _really _liked Playboy," said Red X, holding up a crinkled magazine that he'd retrieved from under one of the chairs. Cyborg's eyes went wide, and he ran over to snatch the magazine away, only to have X shred it to pieces with one of his wrist blades right in front of his eyes. "But you're right, we _do _need to go."

As Red X and Beast Boy walked toward the door, Cyborg stood stunned in a mist of erotic confetti, his mouth agape.

"That is seriously not cool, man!" shouted Cyborg, turning around and following X and Beast Boy out into the hall. "Maybe I oughta shred that document you just took, how would you like-"

The thief and the changeling had stopped, and Cyborg bumped into the backs of both of them, nearly toppling them over. They had stopped because they were now faced with the same dilemma that the entire group had faced near the bunker's entrance... there were three separate paths, as a hallway intersected the one that the three were currently in, and now they were faced with the choice of going left, right, or forward.

"We're not splitting up again," said Cyborg, walking straight past Beast Boy and Red X and heading down the hallway. Within a few seconds, he was faced with another intersecting corridor, and could see several doors lining each side of both paths. "Hmm..."

"This must be the living area." Red X walked up next to Cyborg and peered to the left, then to the right. "The doors probably lead to bedrooms... a lot of people would be living down here if there had been a nuclear attack."

"Well, that's just great," said Beast Boy, raising his hands in frustration. "If there are this many rooms, how are we supposed to know where Sedaris is-"

"He's not going to be conducting his operations from somebody's bedroom," said Cyborg. "That's why we need to keep going forward... we're in the wrong place, he wouldn't be in the living area. I'm not picking up any signs of life from anywhere near here anyway..."

Beast Boy let out a sigh and slumped against the wall, realizing that he, Cyborg, and X were most likely far away from Sedaris... and that two of the other Titans were headed his way instead. He could only hope that it wasn't Terra and Raven... as powerful as they were, Sedaris was still dangerous to _any _of the Titans... his fight with Starfire had proven that.

"I guess we should do what the big robot says," said Red X, "because I'm fresh out of-"

The thief found himself immediately knocked to the ground, hit across the chest by a mighty clothesline that took him down in an instant. When Beast Boy and Cyborg turned to see who had knocked Red X down, they found themselves staring straight at a tall, faceless humanoid figure painted entirely black, its body sleek and shining.

"What... is that thing?" gasped Beast Boy, watching in awe as two glowing red eyes appeared on the figure's head. The figure lifted its arms from its sides, positioning them across its chest and forming an X where the wrists met.

"I am one-half of Gemini Delta, a humanoid robot created by Nicholas Jarvin and reprogrammed by Alex Sedaris. You should all prepare to die."

"This thing belongs to Sedaris?" groaned Red X, standing up and clutching his chest. _"Shit... what does it mean by one-half, anyway?"_

"I don't care who it belongs to... whatever it is, it's going down!" shouted Cyborg, pointing his sonic cannon at the robot's face and firing a single shot. The being leapt into the air, then seemingly disappeared, causing Cyborg's blast to slam harmlessly into a nearby wall, creating a large explosion. The robotic being then appeared next to Cyborg and swung its leg around, kicking him in the side and knocking him away. "Aaaaaah!"

Cyborg impacted the wall immediately to his left, throwing a large amount of debris into the hallway and creating a cloud of dust that blinded both X and Beast Boy. Beast Boy quickly turned into a bat and peered through the dust, only to be struck directly by a punch from Gemini Delta and knocked nearly a hundred feet down the hallway, his tiny mass jettisoned far by the immense force that the punch exerted on his body.

"Guess it's up to me then," said Red X, narrowing his eyes and extending both of his wrist blades. _"This guy's fast, but I'm way faster... or at least way smarter."_

O-O-O

Robin and Starfire had entered a room that had a large opening at the other side of the entrance, an opening through which they could clearly see some sort of circular structure made entirely of glass. From the appearance of the lights and circuitry positioned around the structure, Robin quickly postulated that the object in the next room was an elevator.

"It'll probably take us right down to Sedaris," said Robin, narrowing his eyes and beginning his trek across the room that he and Starfire had just entered.

"How can you tell?" asked Starfire, gently grabbing Robin by the wrist and holding him back from walking through the opening. Robin pointed at the inside of the next room, which, unlike all the other rooms that the two had been through, was filled with an array of monitors and technological equipment that couldn't have been built back when the bunker was designed.

"The technology around the elevator is far too recent to be from the 1950s... that area of the bunker must've just been built," said Robin, "obviously as part of one of Dullahan's machines. Now Sedaris is going to use it to destroy the city... so-"

"So we cannot let him do that," Starfire replied, walking up next to Robin and smiling at him. She knew that once the two stepped into the elevator, they would probably be just minutes away from an encounter with Sedaris, whom she knew was a dangerous and intelligent foe. But as long as she was with Robin, she knew that she was safe... Sedaris couldn't defeat the two of them together. Starfire knew in her heart that he couldn't. "Let us go and kick the butt!"

Robin nodded, returning Starfire's smile and walking with her toward the opening. Suddenly, a large metallic gate slid up from the floor and completely cut the two off from the elevator in the next room. When the two turned toward the back of the room, they found that the opening through which they'd entered was now sealed with a metal gate as well. Robin and Starfire were trapped.

"Sedaris doesn't want you anywhere near that elevator..." came a voice from directly above the center of the room. When the two Titans looked up, they saw a sleek, humanoid robot, its frame painted completely white, looking down at both of them with glowing blue eyes. "I am one-half of Gemini Delta, created by Nicholas Jarvin and programmed by Alex Sedaris... and you're not leaving this room alive!"

O-O-O

The men who attempted to shoot at Terra found themselves pelted by a constant hail of rocks, rendering them stunned and bruised and keeping them a good distance away from the blonde geomancer.

"I'm not going to let any of you near me," said Terra, raising up a large rock from the ground and dropping it on the entire group of guards, who quickly scattered before the rock came down on them. As Terra continued fighting off the men coming after her, Raven had used her powers to rip the guns from the hands of her own attackers, while countering their blows with her own moves when they came to attack her directly.

"I've had just about enough of beating you back today..." said Raven, lifting her hands and causing several of the men to become swept up in a pillar of dark energy, sending them high into the air before dropping them back down to the ground, dazing them but not knocking them out. As she raised her hands to fire off another energy blast, several more men got up behind her, grabbing her arms and legs and attempting to wrestle her to the ground. She briefly struggled in their grasp, her eyes turning solid black as she again gathered up a small amount of energy. "Azarath, metreon-"

One of the men put his hand over Raven's mouth, and she let out a muffled yell, just before blasting everyone around her backwards with a huge, spherical energy ball, sending nearly a dozen men flying into the air. They landed on the ground and got up almost immediately, running toward the two girls, who found themselves standing back to back as the guards quickly surrounded them.

"These guys are persistent..." said Raven quietly, just as several of the men peeled off from the group and leapt toward her. She raised her arms to attack, only to realize that she didn't need to, watching as small rocks slammed into the foreheads of each of the men, knocking them all to the ground.

"Looked like you needed a hand," said Terra, smiling as Raven turned toward her. "Maybe now you won't be so ticked off at me, huh?"

Raven simply maintained a solemn glare, before seeing eight of the men dive upon Terra at once, burying her in a massive dogpile and using their weight to press the girl into the rocky ground. Letting out a gasp, Raven tried to concentrate her powers to get the men away from Terra, only to be punched in the stomach and grabbed from behind a second time.

"_No!" _thought Raven, her eyes widening as she fought within the men's grasp, watching as one of Terra's hands weakly reached out from underneath the pile of men, clawing into the ground before being roughly yanked back and disappearing into the pile. "Azarath, metreon, ZINTHOS!"

Another powerful energy wave, much more intense than the first that Raven had used to clear the men away from her, blasted outward from the half-demoness' body, not only hitting the men immediately around Raven and knocking _them _away, but blasting away the men on top of Terra, causing them all to land around the edge of the room, all but a few of them unconscious. Terra lay face-down on the ground, groaning weakly and slowly attempting to get to her feet. She made it to one knee before seeing that Raven had walked over and extended a hand to help her up.

"It's fine," said Terra, pushing Raven's hand away and standing up. She brushed herself off and turned away from Raven, using her powers to knock out the last few soldiers by bashing rocks over their heads. She then turned back toward Raven, giving her a neutral look. She wasn't mad at Raven, but she certainly didn't look happy to receive Raven's help... and Raven got the message before Terra could even say anything.

"We'd better go," said Raven, turning away from Terra and walking toward the shadowy area at the back of the room.

"I agree," Terra said, placing one of her hands in her pockets as she followed Raven toward the shadows. _"She doesn't even care how I'm feeling... I told her that I wanted to be her friend, and she just... she just... dammit, this is my fault anyway... all of this is my..."_

Raven had stopped just before reaching the first stone pillar, letting out a gasp of shock as she watched dozens of men begin to emerge from the back of the room, then looking up to see dozens more walking out onto the balcony. She and Terra both stumbled back toward the center of the room, watching in horror as more and more guards came their way... more than two hundred in all, Sedaris' entire contingent of men, all of them with one goal in mind... to exterminate the Teen Titans.

And right now, they had two of them completely surrounded... the men filed out, quickly encircling the girls, taking up the entire perimeter of the room. Raven and Terra once more stood back to back, looking around and realizing the terrible truth... the two of them were massively outnumbered.

O-O-O

Red X repeatedly swung his blades at Black Gemini Delta, but each of the attacks were countered, as the robot swung its armored forearms into the path of each slash that the thief took. X leapt back and came at the robot again, this time with faster and more powerful blows, but again found himself hopelessly countered... and then a boot to the face knocked him flat on his back.

"_If I keep getting knocked down like this, I'm not going to be able to get back up," _thought Red X, barely rolling out of the way as the robot stomped one of its feet down at his chest. He threw two exploding Xs at Black Gemini Delta's legs, but the robot simply somersaulted out of the way, and the thief was caught up in his own explosion, crying out in pain as rocks and dirt bombarded his body.

"You ain't takin' me down twice!" shouted Cyborg, grabbing the robot from behind and placing it in a tight headlock, twisting back its neck and rendering it unable to break free. As it twisted and thrashed in Cyborg's grasp, it kicked back one of its legs, attempting to hit Cyborg in the knee. Cyborg simply crouched down, lowering his base of gravity and keeping his arm firmly around the robot's slender neck, intending to rip its head right from its shoulders. "C'mon... only one robot here is the man, and I don't see how someone like you possibly qualifies as man material!"

"That may be the single... worst example... of trash talk... I've ever heard," groaned Red X, crawling to his feet and pointing the palm of his hand at Black Gemini Delta's chest. "Keep holding him, I'll-"

Lifting both of its legs into the air, the robot wrapped its ankles around X's neck and threw him backward into Cyborg, sending both of them to the ground and freeing the much weaker robot from Cyborg's powerful headlock. It then turned around and formed glowing energy blades in both of its hands, swinging them repeatedly at its two downed opponents.

"If you hadn't given that thing a chance, I woulda been able to rip its head off!" shouted Cyborg, pushing Red X off of him and climbing up just as Black Gemini Delta's powerful energy sword came slicing his way. The sword made a slight cut across Cyborg's chest, and sparks began emerging from the wound, accompanied by a yelp of pain from the afflicted Titan. "Yowch!"

Another of the swords came down at Red X, who phased into a nearby room and avoided the slash completely, leaving Cyborg alone to deal with a constant barrage of sword swings. Unable to risk being sliced in two by standing up, Cyborg crawled backwards along the ground to avoid the slashes, gaining a brief respite when Beast Boy, having transformed into a tiger, leaped out of the shadows and tackled the sleek robot to the ground. The swords in its hands disappeared, and it had to use its fists to fend off the roaring, snarling Beast Boy.

"Well, all right!" shouted Cyborg, standing up and readying his energy cannon. "Now just hold him still, and-"

With a powerful burst of strength, the robot tossed tiger Beast Boy off of its body, causing the two Titans to collide and be thrown to the floor.

"NOT AGAIN!" came Cyborg's frustrated shout as Beast Boy detransformed on his chest. "Get up off me!"

As the two downed Titans attempted to stand, Red X emerged from the small room that he'd phased into and watched Beast Boy and Cyborg resume their fight with Black Gemini Delta.

"_I'm pretty sure the two of you can handle this..." _thought Red X, _"and I'm in no mood to deal with these fucking zodiac robots anymore... I've got way bigger fish to fry, and I can't be wasting my energy on fighting this thing... I'll catch the two of you later."_

Beast Boy and Cyborg were too caught up in their own battle to see Red X turn and run in the other direction down the hallway. The thief wasn't running because of cowardice... he simply wanted his rematch with Sedaris. He didn't care if the Titans saw it differently... in Red X's eyes, the only person he had to answer to was himself.

O-O-O

Starfire could keep White Gemini Delta back with Starbolts and eye lasers, but her powerful blasts seemed to do little damage to the robot's thick armor, and she quickly realized that if it couldn't attack her, it simply decided to go after Robin instead.

"Starfire, keep hitting it with your Starbolts, I know you'll get through sooner or later!" shouted Robin, while using his bo staff to parry the robot's numerous blows. After keeping this up for nearly half a minute, Robin tried hitting the robot in the head, prompting it to leap back and form energy swords in each of its hands. As Robin came forward with his staff again, the robot sliced the metallic pole to pieces. "No!"

Starfire rushed forward and swung her fist at White Gemini Delta, only to have it dodge to the side and drive a knee into her stomach. It thrust one of its laser swords at her throat, but was yanked back by Robin's grappling cable at the last second and thrown into the left-side wall of the room, sending a shower of rocks tumbling forward.

"Starfire, are you okay?"

"I am more worried about your staff..." said Starfire, bending down to pick up the pieces of Robin's destroyed weapon.

"I can build another staff, I just-"

A powerful kick to the back of the head sent Robin flying across the room. He slammed face-first into the opposite wall, triggering an explosion of rage from Starfire, who repeatedly bombarded the robot with powerful Starbolts that it couldn't dodge or knock away. When the smoke cleared, the robot's swords were gone, and it was stumbling about the room as if having sustained a severe malfunction.

Starfire seized on the opportunity, flying at the robot and slamming both of her feet into its back. It was knocked forward again, slamming into the metallic wall that blocked the entrance to the elevator in the next room and taking down the wall in an instant, sending both it and White Gemini Delta crashing to the floor.

"And if you hurt Robin again, you will have it twice as bad!" shouted Starfire, standing over the downed robot as Robin slowly walked toward her, wiping a droplet of blood from his nose.

"Starfire?"

"Robin!" Starfire quickly turned toward him, not seeing that the robot was once again standing up and was now towering behind her, its hands poised to grab her by the neck. Robin tried to warn his fellow Titan, but only made it worse. Starfire turned back around, right into the robot's powerful choke, its hands immediately tightening around Starfire's throat and putting an immense strain on her windpipe. She screamed, but nothing came out except a loud, choked gasp.

"Death Choke activated," said the robot, holding the rapidly choking Starfire high in the air. "Any attempt to extricate victim will lead to immediate self-destruction."

"_Robin..." _thought Starfire, looking fearfully at him as White Gemini Delta's powerful hands tightened around her throat. _"Please... do something..."_

O-O-O

Though outnumbered by a factor of more than a hundred, Raven and Terra fought valiantly, Raven using powerful dark energy blasts to keep the men away, while Terra created a small earthquake that knocked a large portion of them off their feet.

"We need to get higher!" shouted Terra, closing her eyes and raising up the section of ground beneath herself and Raven, lifting them both nearly twenty feet off the floor and well out of reach of any of the men coming for them. This merely delayed the attackers, who raised their guns and began firing upon the two girls on the platform. Raven repelled the bullets by raising an energy shield, but watched in horror as the men began climbing on one another to reach the top of the platform.

"Higher isn't helping!" shouted Raven, leaping off the platform and extending her arms outward from her body. "Azarath, metreon, zinthos!"

Another powerful wave of energy blasted outward from Raven's body, slamming into the men below and knocking them away, while also tearing down the platform that Terra was standing on and sending her plummeting toward the ground. In a panic, Terra was able to levitate a small rock into each of her hands, which she used to keep herself off the ground, flying upward and over to Raven.

"Rae, that almost got me killed!" shouted Terra, just as a bullet grazed her arm. She dropped both the rocks that she was holding and fell to the ground, right into the outstretched arms of nearly a dozen of Sedaris' men. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"TERRA!" Raven attempted to blast the men away from Terra, but was suddenly hit by a powerful tackle from behind, as several of the men had formed a human pyramid in order to reach her. She was knocked face-first to the ground and immediately surrounded, the men diving on her before she was able to stand.

Terra kicked and punched at the soldiers gathered around her, while at the same time bombarding them with rocks. With every few she managed to knock unconscious or push away, several more took their place, and Terra's eyes widened in pure horror when she realized how desperate her situation was.

"Get away from me! Stop it! Go! You bastards... get away!"

With every second, Terra's voice became more and more desperate. Her arms were now completely immobilized, being held in place by five men, while her legs weren't doing her much good, even if she kicked as hard as she could muster. She tried creating another earthquake, but in her panic found herself unable to concentrate her energy. When she managed to catch a glimpse of Raven, she saw the pale-skinned girl fighting just as hard as she was, her cloak having been torn off in her struggles. Just as it seemed that Raven was beginning to get free, the butt of a rifle slammed into the back of her skull, and she immediately went unconscious.

Seeing Raven get knocked out sent Terra into a panic mode, and she began screaming, her body wildly thrashing as she attempted to send more and more rocks at the men holding her in place.

"Let's see how you like getting hit by rocks, bitch."

One of the men smashed a large rock right into Terra's face, knocking her unconscious and causing a small stream of blood to emerge from her nose. The men dropped her unconscious body to the ground and began dragging her over to Raven, laying the two helpless Titans next to one another.

"Very nice work..."

Every single one of the nearly three-hundred men in the room looked up toward the balcony, where Sedaris was standing, his hands behind his back. His gaze remained fixated on Terra and Raven, knowing that in their weakened, unconscious state, the two Titans were completely at his mercy.

"Sir," said one of the men, pointing at Terra and Raven as several of the men leveled their guns at the Titans' lifeless bodies. "Do you want us to kill them?"

Sedaris pondered the man's question for several seconds, a smile slowly forming on his face. His mind was working rapidly, and as an idea appeared in his head, he gestured to the men to lower their guns.

"Keep them both alive... there's something that I always wanted to try... take them to the containment chambers."

As the men lifted Terra and Raven up and carried them past the stony pillars holding up the balcony and into the shadows, Sedaris' smile grew larger and larger... and a slight chuckle escaped his lips.

"_This is working out better than I'd hoped..."_

O-O-O

A roaring green grizzly bear towered over Black Gemini Delta, swiping its claws down repeatedly at the robot's head. Several large scratches were made by the claws as they came down, and the robot somersaulted over the bear's head, attempting to strike it in the back with a forceful punch. The bear simply went down on its four legs and turned around, charging into the robot and knocking it to the floor.

"_This'll be a piece of cake," _thought Beast Boy, raising his claw to strike again. The robot sat up and slammed its head into Beast Boy's snout, triggering a cry of pain from Beast Boy and causing him to detransform, holding his nose in pain. "Aaaaaaagggh... I totally wasn't expecting that!"

Black Gemini Delta stood up and kicked Beast Boy away, just as Cyborg came in with another of his powerful punches. The robot turned around and grabbed Cyborg by the arms, flinging him backward and causing him to slam into Beast Boy just as he stood up.

"Everything we throw at this thing just seems to make it madder and madder!" shouted Beast Boy, attempting to crawl out from underneath Cyborg. "Hey... where's Red X, wasn't he helping us fight this thing?"

"I guess Red X decided not to be so helpful anymore," said Cyborg, standing up and leveling his sonic cannon at Black Gemini Delta's head.

"_You gotta be kidding me..." _thought Beast Boy, rubbing the small of his back and trying to figure out just why Red X would bail in the middle of a fight, then remembering that X wasn't a member of the Titans... he was a rogue thief, out for himself and only helping the Titans take down Sedaris because he had a grudge against the people that abducted Cleo. "We can't worry about that loser, we gotta deal with this guy first!"

"That's exactly what I was thinkin'," said Cyborg, blasting Black Gemini Delta in the face at point-blank range and watching as the robot stumbled back, sparks and smoke pouring from its body. "BOOYAH! Right on the money!"

"I'll finish him off," said Beast Boy, transforming into a gorilla and charging past Cyborg. _"The Titans never needed Red X before, and they don't need him now!"_

Beast Boy leaped into the air and prepared to strike the robot's damaged head with his powerful gorilla fist... only to wind up staring straight into the business end of a massive energy cannon. Black Gemini Delta had reconfigured both of its arms into a cannon, which it held out and was now pointing right at Beast Boy's chest. In less than a second, the huge green gorilla was sent flying across the hallway, eventually disappearing into the shadows, a smoke trail still floating outward from his body.

"BEAST BOY, NO!" shouted Cyborg, turning around and watching in dismay as his friend disappeared from view. He then turned back toward Black Gemini Delta, which was once again recharging its powerful energy cannon. "All right, you big piece of robotic crap, you just tweaked Cyborg's biggest nerve, and now you're gonna pay like nobody's ever paid before. Time for you to die!"

Cyborg placed both of his arms out in front of his own body, and they too began to reconfigure into a massive energy cannon, his hands disappearing and the machinery of both arms merging together as the cannon raised itself toward the mouth of Black Gemini Delta's cannon and began charging up for its own energy blast. The two cannons discharged at the same time, their blasts meeting in the middle and vying for position. Cyborg, sweat already running down the human side of his face, was immediately pushed back several feet, then held his ground, narrowing his eyes as he attempted to push his blue-colored blast toward Black Gemini Delta's red-colored beam.

"I guess I never told you before, but I'm tellin' you now," said Cyborg through gritted teeth, "nobody messes with my friends, and you're about to learn the hard way!"

Slowly but surely, Cyborg's beam pushed back the red beam of his opponent, and Black Gemini Delta found itself pushed back as Cyborg began walking forward. Cyborg's beam moved as well, until the other energy beam completely disappeared.

"Booyah."

An enormous explosion engulfed Black Gemini Delta, immediately blasting the robot into scrap and showering Cyborg with smoke and large hunks of metal. The coughing Cyborg waved off the smoke and looked around at the hallway, seeing that there was nothing left of Sedaris' powerful robot except a few pieces of scrap metal and a large crater that spanned the width of the hallway. Exhausted, Cyborg slumped against the wall and stared up at the ceiling, taking a few seconds to recover before remembering that Beast Boy had disappeared in the battle.

"Beast Boy?" Cyborg called out, slowly walking down the hall in the direction that he'd seen Beast Boy get blasted. _"I really hope the little guy's okay..."_

O-O-O

There was no doubt that _Starfire _wasn't okay... White Gemini Delta was choking the life out of her body, and as she gasped for breath, Robin's mind began racing as he searched for some way to save Starfire without touching the robot and risking its self-destruction.

"_Robin... do not worry about me... you must go and find Sedaris, I will escape the grasp of this machine somehow..." _But even Starfire wasn't sure that she would escape, and her repeated attempts to pry the robot's fingers from her neck were completely futile.

"Starfire, I promise I'll get you out of that thing!" Looking down at his utility belt, Robin realized that he _did _have something that might be able to free Starfire without him touching the robot... but it would be a delicate operation. He reached down and took out a large bar magnet, black at one end and red at the other. He pointed the red end at the robot and pressed a button on the magnet's tip, generating an incredibly strong magnetic force that begin loosening the grip of the robot's fingers. Once the grip had loosened enough for Starfire to breathe, she let out a loud gasp, swinging her heel back into the robot's chest and knocking it backward. This completely freed her neck, and she collapsed to the ground, clutching her throat and gasping for breath. Robin deactivated the magnet and rushed to Starfire's side, falling to his knees and taking her gently into his arms.

"Starfire... are you-"

The robot lunged forward and slammed its fist into Robin's face, knocking him away from Starfire and causing the Tamaranian to go into a violent rage. She stood up and fired her eye lasers straight into White Gemini Delta's chest, which previously would have been ineffective. In this case, powered by all of Starfire's righteous fury, the lasers had more than enough energy to pierce the robot's power core, and it was destroyed in a violent explosion that knocked both Titans back into the room, landing on their faces a short distance away from each other.

Robin was the first to stand, followed by Starfire, who had exerted much of her strength in the fight and was still trying to recover from having been choked. The two met in the center of the room.

"Robin, are you-"

"Starfire, are you-"

Their words came at the same time, and both of them blushed and looked away from one another. Quickly, Robin's seriousness returned, and he looked past Starfire to the elevator in the next room, the path to it now laying wide open in front of the two Titans.

"We should probably go..."

"Yes... yes, we should..." said Starfire, her legs slowly carrying her toward the elevator, though she clearly had something else on her mind, and as the two entered the next room, she stopped before reaching the elevator and turned to Robin... who apparently had the same idea, since he had turned toward her as well. "I just... I just want to say that... I am thankful to you for saving-"

"You saved me first, Star..." replied Robin, remembering how it had been Starfire who'd knocked the robot away once his staff had been destroyed. He reached over and took her hands in his own, lifting them up just past the level of his waist. "So... thanks."

A smile slowly crossed Robin's face, matching the smile that Starfire was already wearing. Without saying anything, the two leaned into one another, their lips touching for a brief moment... a moment that became several seconds before the two finally pulled away. Both of them were still smiling.

"Now we can go and defeat Sedaris," said Starfire, walking into the center of the circular elevator. Robin walked in next to her, and together, the two began their descent into the depths of the bunker.

O-O-O

The disoriented Beast Boy had stumbled completely out of the living area before realizing that he was nowhere near Cyborg or Gemini Delta. When he finally _did _manage to figure out what he was doing, he realized something else... that he was completely lost.

"Cyborg's gonna _kill _me," said Beast Boy, sadly shaking his head and continuing to walk forward, barely noticing that he'd entered the large, expansive atrium, where a massive fight had taken place just a short time before. "If he's not already dead first..."

It was then that Beast Boy tripped over a rock and fell face-first to the floor, his forehead impacting hard on the ground. He let out a shriek and climbed to his feet, looking around with awe at the open room, and how much abuse it had recently taken. Huge piles of rock lay strewn about, the floor was cracked in several places, and massive, still-smoldering craters had been carved out everywhere. Shell casings and hundreds of bullets littered the debris, and it didn't take Beast Boy long to figure out what had happened.

"Somebody here got their butt kicked," said Beast Boy, his eyes widening. "I wonder who-"

Beast Boy let out a gasp, almost falling again. When he looked down to see what had tripped him up, his eyes widened in dismay. He reached down and picked up a blue cloak, its edges slightly singed. Lying nearby was a pair of goggles, one of the lenses broken.

"_Raven and Terra..." _thought Beast Boy, falling on one knee to the ground. _"They... they must've been ambushed..."_

Beast Boy could already feel the sting of tears in his eyes... he reached up to brush one away, only to have another fall down the opposite cheek. Raven and Terra had been attacked, and were most likely in serious danger... the fact that there were no bodies in the room meant that either every single one of their attackers had been vaporized, highly unlikely since the Titans almost never killed a foe, or that Raven and Terra had been... had been...

"_Someone took them..."_

O-O-O

Raven awoke with a splitting pain in her head and a lingering ache in both of her arms... when she attempted to touch her forehead, she found that she couldn't move her arms at all, and she looked up to see that they were chained above her head, immobilized with shackles that were fixed to the top of a metallic structure. Her wrists were encased in the thick shackles and held in place, and her ankles were held in similar fashion, forcing Raven to stand on tiptoe.

A loud, muffled cry nearly drew Raven's attention to her left, where she could see a tall, cylindrical structure, metal on top and on bottom that held in place a glass-walled structure. Behind the glass walls, Raven could see Terra, shackled in a similar fashion, her wrists fixed above her head and her ankles below. Terra had also been gagged with duct tape, and as the blonde girl attempted to cry out, Raven could see in her wide, blue eyes an intense fear, mixed with other negative emotions... sadness, guilt... Terra was attempting to speak with her eyes an apology that her tongue was currently unable to form.

When Raven looked forward again, she could see several of the men who had taken her milling about. One of them was standing right in front of her, at a distance of several feet away.

"What do you want with us?" shouted Raven, who, unlike Terra, had not yet been gagged. "You have nothing to gain by using us as hostages..."

"You're not hostages," said the man, who held a roll of duct tape in his hands. He peeled off a long strip and leaned forward to place the tape over Raven's mouth. "Sedaris wants you for something else. That's all I know."

"You tell Sedaris he can kiss my ass!" shouted Raven, showing a rare display of emotion, both in an attempt to intimidate her captor and to gather the energy that she would need to escape. "Our friends will come, and Sedaris will- mph! MMM!"

The tape was placed over Raven's mouth, and as the man stepped back, glass walls were raised around her as well. Then, the few men in the room exited, and the empty room was completely shrouded in darkness, leaving both of the helpless heroines trapped inside their cylindrical prisons.

O-O-O

Beast Boy had exited the atrium by passing through the pillars underneath the balcony and heading into the shadows, going through the first door that he could see and running down a long, straight hallway. As he ran, he continued to think about how he'd seen Raven's cloak and Terra's goggles... and that both girls were in serious danger.

"_I have to find them... I have to save them..."_

Beast Boy pushed through another set of doors, emerging into a brightly-lit hallway, similar to the one he'd seen in the living area, but completely devoid of doors. He no longer cared about Red X, no longer cared about finding Sedaris... he just wanted to find Raven and Terra, and desperately hoped that they were unharmed.

"_If anyone's hurt either of you, I swear, I'll-"_

Beast Boy pushed through one last set of double doors, emerging into another large room, larger even than the atrium, and darker than any room in the bunker. There wasn't a single light to show Beast Boy the way.

"_Damn... I'll need to transform into a bat again..."_

But before he could, half the room was suddenly lit up, as the system of lights on Beast Boy's side of the room activated and allowed him to see everything but the very back of the room, still concealed by shadows. He began walking forward, only to hear a voice and to see a single figure emerge... the imposing figure of Sedaris, slowly coming toward him.

"You're the first," said Sedaris, slowly closing the gap between Beast Boy and himself. The changeling crouched down into a fighting stance, narrowing his eyes at Sedaris. He began to tremble, but quickly stopped himself, not wanting to show any sign of fear. "I didn't think you'd be the first."

"I know you're trying to destroy the city," said Beast Boy, clenching his fists and walking toward Sedaris at the same speed at which Sedaris was coming toward him. "And I'm not gonna let you do that... I'll fight you..."

"But I don't want to fight, Beast Boy... what gave you the idea that I wanted to fight? I just want to talk... you like talking, right?"

"No talking!" Beast Boy, now standing near the center of the room, stopped in place and clenched his fists, waiting for Sedaris to come to him. _"This guy probably knows where Terra and Raven are... I wanted to find them BEFORE I fought Sedaris!"_

Sedaris stopped about thirty feet away from Beast Boy, his arms crossed over his chest.

"I've been watching you... I got one of Jarvin's old surveillance devices inside the main room of your tower... placed it on Starfire during my fight with her, and when it got inside it flew right up into the corner. I've had my eye on you for two days."

"Just... just shut up!" shouted Beast Boy, surprised that Sedaris had managed to get such a device into the tower, and worried about what he might've seen... but right now, the changeling was far too angry about his friends in danger to worry about anything else. "Are we gonna fight, or-"

"Seriously, I don't want to fight you... actually, I was planning to conduct a psychological experiment." A smile was etched on Sedaris' face, and he was speaking to Beast Boy as casually as someone like Red X would... almost as a friend. "In my twenty-four years, I've studied many things... and I've become an admirer of one culture in particular. I've become an admirer of the Nazis. Not of their bigotry, but of the efficiency and of their ingenuity... they were some of the most brilliant people in history, and some of their experiments were quite interesting."

Beast Boy, no longer able to speak, just listened to Sedaris and wondered what he could possibly be leading up to... and had no idea of the horrific dilemma he was about to be presented with.

"One of them in particular... think of a mother being forced to choose between her own children," said Sedaris, his words taking on a chilling undertone. "It must be fascinating to study the mind of a person subjected to such a terrible decision..."

"What are you getting at?" shouted Beast Boy, having completely failed to put two-and-two together.

Sedaris was about to bring his entire world crashing down around him.

"This, Beast Boy."

The lights of the other half of the room suddenly flashed on, and there, at the very back of the room, Beast Boy saw two glass capsules. The capsule to the left contained Raven, and the capsule to the right contained Terra. Both girls had their arms tightly shackled in place above their heads, and were on their tiptoes, their ankles shackled in place beneath them. Both were gagged with a single strip of duct tape, and both were staring fearfully at Beast Boy, able to hear exactly what Sedaris was saying.

"LET THEM GO, YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

Beast Boy lunged forward at Sedaris, who immediately produced a small remote control in his left hand. He held it out, his finger touching a red button at the very top.

"Make another move and I kill them both... the shackles in their arms and legs contain explosive devices powerful enough to completely vaporize either of them."

Beast Boy, his eyes widening in shock and horror, stopped just two feet away from Sedaris. His knees buckled beneath him, and he fell to the ground, staring hopelessly across the room at the two girls whom he loved.

"But you can choose to save one, Beast Boy... say the word and I'll let either one of them go, and you can walk out the door with that girl, completely unharmed. Of course, I will kill the other one, but... you love them both, so what does it matter? It's time to make a decision, Beast Boy..."

Once again, Beast Boy could feel tears sliding down the sides of his face. His lip trembled, and he let out a quiet sob.

"Just think of yourself as a modern Sophie Zawistowska."

O-O-O

Only three more chapters to go, but will all the Titans survive to see them? Now, I do NOT want to see my review section suicide-bombed by BBxTerrarists, or ravaged by BBxRaepists. I want to see positive reviews or constructive criticism, or I'll have Sedaris kill them both! Mwahahaha!


	19. Salvation Lies Within

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Teen Titans. If I did, this would be on TV and not here. 

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This doesn't take place in the same storyline as my "Forced Base" and "Fractured Heart" stories, so forget those when you're reading this. Also, about Sanza/Red X: When he's wearing the mask, he's Red X. When he's not, he's Sanza. Simple as that.

SECOND AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a sequel to "The Life and Times of Red X", which is in my profile. Read that before you read this. Also, this fic COMPLETELY IGNORES the events of the fifth season (with the exception of "Go"). For the purposes of this fic, "Things Change" NEVER HAPPENED.

O-O-O

Raven and Terra, two of Beast Boy's best friends, teammates, and the two girls he loved with every fiber of his being, were completely trapped, completely helpless, and completely at Sedaris' mercy... and he could only save one of them.

"Well, Beast Boy? I don't have all day, you really need to make a decision..." With his finger on a large red button in the remote control held in his hand, Sedaris held Raven and Terra's lives in the balance... and if Beast Boy made any move to try to save them, both would be vaporized in an instant.

"I... I can't..." sobbed Beast Boy, his eyes futilely staring down at the floor, unable to bring himself to look at either of the two girls who he had endangered with his indecisiveness. Trapped inside their glass and metal prisons, both Raven and Terra watched intently, each of them struggling but both knowing that they had no chance to escape.

"_I can't focus my powers... not like this..." _thought Raven, looking over at Terra in the opposite capsule. After all the two girls had been through together, one would expect Raven to feel a sense of animosity toward Terra, especially since her survival meant that Terra would have to die.

But with both girls' lives in supreme danger, and despite the fact that she was afraid, though trying to conceal it, Raven's primary concern was Terra's life... and as scared as she was of dying, Raven was silently pleading for Beast Boy to save Terra instead of her.

In the other capsule, Terra was even more frightened and frantic than Raven. She struggled and screamed, and when Beast Boy brought himself to look up at Terra, he could see that tears were making their way down the blonde geomancer's cheeks. All Terra could think about was every cruel word that she'd ever said, both to Beast Boy and Raven... and that both of their lives were in danger because of her.

"They're both my friends! I can't choose between them!" Beast Boy pleaded, desperate for Sedaris to spare the lives of his friends. "Just kill me instead!"

"Beast Boy, if I wanted to kill_ you_, I'd snap your neck right now, just like I did to Frederick Dullahan," replied Sedaris. "I don't want to do that, because it's not interesting. _This_... this is very interesting. And you need to choose..."

"No..."

Beast Boy looked up at Raven and Terra, his eyes darting back and forth between them as memories of every moment he'd spent with the two girls played over and over in his head. He remembered Raven's sarcasm and Terra's sweetness, Raven's empathy and Terra's laughter... and he remembered how beautiful both girls looked when he could get them to smile.

"_Please... just save Terra... you have a life with her, you have a future with her... I should have been stronger, I never should've let either of you get into a situation like this..."_

"_Beast Boy... please don't let me die..." _Terra's eyes stared straight into Beast Boy's, and her fear, which had already spiraled out of control, had forced her to abandon all thoughts of Raven... her own life was in terrible danger, and she didn't want to spend her last moments in terrified, helpless agony. She screamed out through the tape over her lips, a cry that penetrated the glass barrier around her and filled the room.

"She's begging you to save her, Beast Boy... but then again, she _did _betray you and try to kill you. On the other hand, from what I've seen of Raven, she's a total bitch. You really don't want to save her either. Oh, I'm sorry, I'm just making this harder than it already-"

"SHUT UP!" screamed Beast Boy, turning toward Sedaris with a look of pure rage on his face, a rage that contrasted the sobs in his voice and the tears running down his cheeks. "If you hurt them... I'll rip you to pieces..."

"You have ten seconds, Beast Boy," said Sedaris, smiling and gesturing toward the two girls, his finger squarely on the button that would send them both to their deaths. "Ten... nine..."

"No... NO!"

"Eight... seven... six... choose, Beast Boy. Five..."

Beast Boy turned toward Raven and Terra once more, his mouth wide open, his eyes conveying his tremendous grief, his pain, and the agony that seeing their lives in danger put him through. Raven's eyes were wide as she continuously tried to tell Beast Boy to pick Terra... who was now trembling violently, saying nothing, waiting for the end.

"Four... three... two..."

"I CAN'T!"

Beast Boy fell to his knees again, his arms limp at his sides.

"THEN THEY BOTH DIE!"

Sedaris' finger began to press the button. Raven closed her eyes, preparing for death, while Terra let out a loud, muffled scream.

"Aaaaaaaaaagh!" Sedaris dropped the remote control with a cry of pain, the top of his right hand sliced open by a red shuriken. He turned to see Red X standing near the back of the room, his arms over his chest.

"What, I don't get to pick one of them too? That's really not fair."

As Beast Boy watched in relieved astonishment, Red X ran across the room and leapt into the air, spinning around and striking the stunned Sedaris in the face with a powerful kick that sent him tumbling backwards. Sedaris immediately dove for his remote control, only to have Red X kick it away, then kick again, hitting Sedaris in the nose and sprawling him flat on his back.

"Beast Boy, save the girls, I'll deal with this prick."

Beast Boy still couldn't believe what he was seeing. The thief who had seemingly abandoned him had now returned, at great personal risk, to engage Sedaris. Whether he'd come to save Raven and Terra didn't matter... they were safe, at least for the moment, though they clearly weren't out of the woods yet. As Sedaris climbed to his feet, Beast Boy ran over to the capsules containing Raven and Terra, both of whom still seemed extremely nervous, Terra much more so than Raven.

"It seems I didn't beat you badly enough last time," said Sedaris, striking Red X in the face with a punch that nearly knocked him off his feet. The thief stumbled back, then extended his wrist blades and charged Sedaris again, slashing furiously at him. The attack came quickly, but Sedaris was slightly quicker, dodging the X-blades and kicking the thief right in the chest. The kick was powerful, and it struck X right in the spot where he'd been bruised during his fight with Sagittarius Gamma. He let out a scream, hitting the ground hard and clutching his injured ribs.

As X continued to struggle with Sedaris, Beast Boy was struggling with his decision about which girl to free first. He looked back and forth between Terra and Raven, the latter of whom was screaming loudly through her gag in an attempt to tell Beast Boy that it didn't matter and that his time to save them was running out.

"_Just smash both the cells and get us out of here, Beast Boy!"_

Interpreting Raven's screams as a sign of fear, Beast Boy transformed into a gorilla and smashed Raven's prison to pieces. Meanwhile, Red X had just hit Sedaris with an electrical charge that temporarily stunned him, allowing the thief a few vital seconds of rest.

"I don't know what you were trying to accomplish," said Red X, readying another attack as Sedaris recovered from the shock. "Unless you're secretly one of those nerds on the internet who wants to see who Beast Boy likes more. You're not one of those people, are you?"

Sedaris said nothing, lunging forward and throwing a punch at X's head that he was able to stop by reaching up with both hands and holding back Sedaris' fist. He then fired off a spray of red goo, showering Sedaris and the area immediately behind him. With one mighty flex, Sedaris shook off the goo and kneed X in the gut, causing him to fall to one knee.

With his powerful gorilla arms, Beast Boy was easily able to free Raven from her shackles. He detransformed and pulled the tape off of her mouth, then immediately turned away from her, knowing that his feelings for her had endangered her life. She already didn't want to speak to him, and now he feared that she would never speak to him again.

"Look, Rae, I-"

Red X flew past both of them, having been tossed halfway across the room by Sedaris. Before either Beast Boy or Raven could react, Sedaris had grabbed the changeling by the neck and was holding him in the air, his fingers tightly clenched around Beast Boy's throat, cutting off his oxygen.

"I told you I could snap your neck any time I wanted," said Sedaris. Beast Boy, despite his intense rage, couldn't gather the energy to free himself from the madman's grasp, and Red X, sprawled out on the ground next to what had once been Raven's prison, could do little to assist him. "I'll kill you, then I'll kill both of your girlfriends!"

"Haven't you done enough to him today?" shouted Raven, raising her hands into the air and taking control of the glass on the floor around her. "Azarath, metreon, ZINTHOS!"

Hundreds of shards of glass flew around Beast Boy and sliced past Sedaris, cutting him in several places and causing him to drop Beast Boy and stumble back, blood flowing from his minor wounds. He threw a punch at Raven, who raised an energy shield to block it, then pushed that shield back toward Sedaris, knocking him away and giving herself and Beast Boy room to breathe.

Beast Boy stood up, gasping for air and turning to Raven. He opened his mouth to speak, but she shook her head and turned to Sedaris, who was already coming toward them again.

"Forget about what just happened," said Raven, "and let's focus on taking this guy down. _I know you have feelings about me, Beast Boy... you can save the confessions and apologies for later... I'm not going to let any of it distract me._"

But Beast Boy's attention was now focused on Terra, still trapped within one of the glass cylinders and still in danger of being blown to pieces if Sedaris got his hands on the controller again. She looked down at Beast Boy with fearful eyes, and he knew that he couldn't let Terra remain a prisoner for another second.

"Wait, I have to save-"

"Already on it," said Red X, who was standing just in front of Terra's prison and had both of his wrist blades extended. "I'll free Terra, you guys just need to cover my ass."

Beast Boy gave a reluctant nod, but when he looked at where Sedaris had been, he saw nothing... Sedaris was now bending down to pick up the controller, and had begun to lower his index finger toward the large, red button.

"NO!"

But before Sedaris could press the button, the remote turned entirely black and had skidded across the room, Raven's powers having knocked it away at the last minute. As Sedaris went for the controller again, Beast Boy turned into a rhinoceros and slammed into him from behind, sending him flying into the concrete wall nearly. He then transformed into a bear, stalking toward Sedaris and swiping at him numerous times. Sedaris managed to keep Beast Boy's claws at bay with his hands, but it was clear that the now-furious Beast Boy wouldn't be denied his chance for revenge.

The sound of shattering glass quickly brought a wave of relief through Terra, who let out a muffled sigh as Red X sliced through her shackles and lowered her gently to the ground. He peeled the tape from Terra's lips, and the blonde girl immediately threw her arms around him, tears pouring down her cheeks.

"Terra... we have to-"

Beast Boy screamed loudly as Sedaris knocked him across the room. He detransformed in mid-air, landing on the floor just next to Raven and groaning painfully as Sedaris stalked toward him. Raven immediately stepped in front of him and raised her arms to blast Sedaris, only to be knocked to the ground with a powerful swipe of the man's hand. Sedaris then raised his leg to stomp the fallen Raven and Beast Boy, only to have the ground seemingly explode under him, showering him with rocks and throwing him back into the wall.

"I... I won't be intimidated by you!" shouted Terra, her tear-filled eyes glowing bright yellow as she tried to mask her trembling voice with strong words. She extended her arm, opening the palm of her right hand and causing two large stone arms to burst out of the wall behind Sedaris, holding him in place as soon as he got to his feet. The arms began tightly squeezing him, and with every second, his struggles became more and more frantic.

"Terra...?" said Beast Boy quietly, watching as his friend used her powers to make the arms around Sedaris constrict tighter and tighter.

"Unnngh... aaaaaaah!" Terra clenched her teeth, her sweat mixing with her tears as she struggled to keep Sedaris in the grip of the rocky arms encircling his body. A grin appeared on Sedaris' face, and the arms keeping him in place began to crack. Then, with an explosion of rock and dust, the arms shattered. Terra fell back into Beast Boy's arms, and Sedaris stood free, his wounded figure still as imposing as ever.

He stared down Red X and the three Titans whom he'd tormented so much. Beast Boy and Raven stared right back, neither of them ready to back down... Beast Boy in particular looked as if he was ready to fight to the death. Terra, though clearly showing vulnerability and weakness in her stature and expression, also looked ready to fight, and Red X stood beside them, his hands resting on the back of his head.

"I don't care," said Sedaris, gazing out over the group of four, his features showing no expression. "I'll crush all four of you."

"Are you sure?" said Raven, all the fear in her body having melted away. "You kept us trapped, completely helpless... and Red X hadn't even shown up. It looks like you were only ready to take on one of us."

"You're pathetic, Sedaris..." said Beast Boy, his eyes narrowing as he spoke. "I don't care how tough you think you are... you won't get away with hurting my friends."

Sedaris looked over at Red X, who pointed his finger right in Sedaris' face.

"If you want to fight, you'll have to take on all four of us... and if you're not down with that, then I've got two words for ya!"

With both of his arms meeting at his wrists and forming the shape of an X, the thief began repeatedly slamming his arms down over his crotch. "SUCK IT!"

Raven glanced over at Red X, raising an eyebrow and letting out a loud sigh.

"That's cute," said Sedaris. "Very, very cute. But I don't have time for any of you... I have important business to attend to, such as the end of your precious city. I must bid all of you adieu."

And with that, Sedaris turned away from the wall, walking behind the shattered glass cylinders and pulling back a large, metallic gate. Almost immediately, Raven turned toward him and fired a large dark energy blast, only to have it explode behind him and throw up a huge cloud of smoke that completely obscured Sedaris' exit. The four teens peered through the smoke, only to realize that Sedaris was completely gone.

"We should go after him," said Beast Boy, clenching his fists. "I'm not gonna let him get away with-"

"He might be leading us into another trap," replied Raven, who then turned toward Red X. "And... what did you just-"

"You wouldn't understand," said the thief, turning away from Raven and looking over at the shattered glass capsules. _"Dammit... Sedaris is even more evil than I thought... making Beast Boy choose between two of his friends like that... I swear, I won't rest until Sedaris is no more..."_

Once Sedaris had left, the gravity of the situation slowly sunk in. Beast Boy let out a loud cry of frustration, while Terra fell to one knee and put her head in her hands.

"When I'm done with Sedaris, he'll be _begging _me to take him to jail," said Beast Boy, reaching up and wiping a tear from his left eye. He tried to block what had just happened out of his mind, but the fact remained that Raven and Terra had both been endangered... and it wasn't just because of Sedaris, it was because of him. "Terra, Raven, I-"

A quiet sobbing diverted Beast Boy's attention to Terra, who now was on both knees, her head bowed toward the ground. Her entire body was trembling, and every few seconds she would whisper 'I'm sorry'. Beast Boy walked over and placed his hand on Terra's shoulder, which only made her cry even harder.

"Beast Boy..."

"Terra, I should've told you... about... about... Terra, I-"

"Beast Boy, Raven, I'm sorry... I didn't mean for any of this to happen, I..."

Raven and Red X watched the sobbing girl with mixed emotions, both of them forgetting about catching Sedaris as they realized how close it had come to being a very, very tragic situation. Red X's last-second interference had arguably saved Raven and Terra's lives... and perhaps even Beast Boy's, who likely would've been killed in the resulting one-on-one fight between him and Sedaris.

"Terra... none of this is your fault..."

"I... I still feel so terrible, Beast Boy..."

O-O-O

The elevator had taken Robin and Starfire to a small room at the very bottom of the bunker, where a single, large computer monitor had been placed. On the screen were images of various cities... not only Jump City, but San Francisco, Oakland, San Diego, and Los Angeles, all of them interspersed with images of earthquakes and fire, as well as an image showing a large diagram of the earth's tectonic plates.

"This must be the control center," said Starfire, nervously walking up to the computer console and staring up at the screen. "But... where are the controls for the device that Sedaris is using to destroy the city?"

"I'm not sure, Starfre..." Robin began carefully searching the room, running his hands along the walls before joining Starfire in front of the computer and looking up at the screen. _"And why are there so many cities besides our own? Is this what Sedaris meant when he told Red X that his plans weren't just for this city?"_

The image of the tectonic plates was particularly telling... a glowing red line, extending completely up the length of the entire San Andreas Fault, was a clear indicator of the means by which Sedaris would be executing his plans.

"Robin, I... I can tell by your expression that there is some great significance to the map of Earth displayed on one of these images. Please, tell me exactly what you believe you have uncovered..."

"Starfire, it's not good," said Robin, using his finger to indicate the red line. "That's the San Andreas Fault. It's a geological boundary between the plate that we're on and the plate that the rest of the country is on."

"Wait... when you speak of plates, do you refer to some kind of dinner? Or perhaps a collectible plate?"

"No, Starfire, it's... it's geology, it's about the parts of the Earth's crust that the continents sit on."

"Crust... are we now talking about pie? Robin, forgive me, but... though I have knowledge of the language of Earth, the geology is foreign to me... on my planet, the land does not move... it is all completely fixed, earthquakes occur because gravity from our suns causes the entire planet to shake."

"Starfire, we need to stop Sedaris from activating the fault line, and to do that, we-"

A loud explosion, followed by a violent rumbling, shook the room that Robin and Starfire were in and caused both of them to fall to their knees. When Starfire stood up, she looked at the screen and saw it entirely blank, except for the words 'Intruder Defense System Activated'.

"Robin, our presence here has activated the earthquake!"

"I don't think so, Starfire, I just think this place is caving in... we've overstayed our welcome!"

Robin turned to the elevator at the back of the room, but the cables and levers that activated it had already been destroyed by the rumbling... now it seemed that there was no way out. Starfire, however, had other plans. She floated over and grabbed Robin, flying up through the elevator shaft and carrying the two up to the room where they'd once been. They ran out of that room and into the room where they had fought Gemini Delta, only to find that the metallic gate leading out of the room still blocked their exit.

"That's not good," said Robin, watching as Starfire attempted to blow up the gate with Starbolts. The Starbolts had no effect whatsoever, and Starfire immediately let out a cry of frustration. "We'll just have to find another way out!"

That way was provided in just a few seconds, as Cyborg smashed in the gate and tossed the crumpled piece of metal over to the side of the room, gesturing for Robin and Starfire to follow him out.

"C'mon, guys, this place is cavin' in, we gotta hurry!"

"We must wait for word of the others!" shouted Starfire, just as Robin received an incoming call on his T-Com. He took it out and opened it up, seeing Raven on the other end. She and her three companions appeared to be running.

"Robin, this place is coming down fast... we're making our way to the exit, are you-"

"We are too... we'll be out just after you guys. What happened, did you see Sedaris?"

"We did," Raven replied, and Robin raised an eyebrow. "He escaped... but not without almost killing Terra and I. It's a long story, we'll explain when we get back to the tower..."

"All right," said Robin, closing the T-Com and placing it back at his side. He turned and followed Starfire and Cyborg out of the room, seconds before a large group of rocks caved in behind them, completely filling the room where he'd just been standing. "Titans, move!"

O-O-O

When Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg ran through the bunker's entrance and out into the desert, Beast Boy, Terra, Raven, and Red X had all gathered around the T-Car. Beast Boy had apologized numerous times to Terra, but each time, she had simply replied with an apology of her own, and she hadn't been able to stop herself from crying.

"We have made it out..." said Starfire, immediately noticing Terra's sobs and reaching out to touch her shoulder. "Terra... what has happened to-"

"Nothing," she replied, waving off Starfire and turning away from the rest of the group. She couldn't stop thinking about what had happened... and every terrible thing that she'd ever done, especially to Raven. Even when the two of them were trapped in the glass cylinders, she'd begged for Beast Boy to save her and to leave Raven behind... she'd selfishly focused on her own survival, and now she couldn't even look at Raven, and could barely bring herself to look at any of the others.

"Robin, could you come with me for a second?" While Starfire and Cyborg conversed with Red X and Beast Boy, Raven led Robin away from the group and informed him about everything that had happened in the bunker... from her and Terra's capture by Sedaris, to Sedaris' psychological torture of Beast Boy, to Red X's rescue and the subsequent battle... and the fact that Beast Boy and Terra probably wouldn't be the same for quite some time. "It's... it's partially my fault, I shouldn't have allowed them to take both of us... I tried to distract the men away from Terra, but there were too many, and-"

"You did fine. How's Beast Boy taking it? I can see that he feels terrible, but... you say Terra's the one most broken up about it?"

"She and I had a disagreement or two before we were captured. She still doesn't trust herself, and she still doesn't think that we want her on the team..."

"Has Beast Boy spoken to her?"

"He tried, but... Robin, Sedaris kept talking about how Beast Boy was in love with both of us... Terra and I, I mean. I should've sensed it earlier, I thought something was bothering him, but..."

Raven still didn't know what to make of the revelation that Beast Boy had feelings for her... she knew that the team still had to deal with Sedaris, and that Beast Boy still felt horrible about what had happened to her and Terra. Having to worry about whether Raven was still his friend would just weigh even heavier on Beast Boy's conscience... and with all the help that she had given him, Raven could understand why Beast Boy may have developed feelings for her.

"_I just should've been able to sense it... before it led to the situation that Sedaris put the three of us in..."_

Starfire and Cyborg had entered the T-Car, leaving Beast Boy standing alone with Red X next to his convertible, and Terra leaning against the back of the T-Car, staring up at the stars.

"Dude... I just... I want to thank you for saving Raven and Terra-"

"I was going after Sedaris, not them," said Red X, hopping into the driver's seat of his car. He glanced over at Terra, feeling a twinge of sadness as he saw another tear come down her cheek. "I told you, I'm not a hero."

"You're a hero to me... look, I... I don't feel like going back with the others, at least... not in the same car. Can I ride with you?"

"Kid, what makes you think I'm going back to the Tower?" asked Red X, watching as Beast Boy walked around to the other side of the car. "And even if I did, I can't take this thing in the water like you can with the T-Car. I'd park this thing in the parking garage closest to the bay and hop in your car."

"That's fine, I just... I just wanna talk," replied Beast Boy, getting in with Red X and looking over at him. "Is that fine?"

"Whatever," said the thief, turning the keys in his ignition and driving toward the dirt path leading back to the city. _"Seriously, I didn't mean to save Raven and Terra... I guess I'm glad I did, though."_

As Red X's car disappeared off in the distance, Robin had climbed into the front passenger seat of the T-Car with Cyborg, leaving Terra and Raven as the only two people who hadn't gotten in either car. As Raven began the short walk to the T-Car, Terra watched her, realizing that she had an apology to make... and that she couldn't start any sort of healing until she told Raven exactly what she felt. She walked over to Raven and stopped her before she could get in the T-Car, still struggling to speak as Raven turned to face her.

"Can we... can we talk... just a... just a bit?"

Terra's teeth bit into her lip, and her eyes wobbled as more tears began pouring from them. Sensing Terra's intense emotional distress, Raven gently led Terra away from the car and out into the desert at a distance that none of her friends could hear them speak.

Terra looked into Raven's eyes, her entire body trembling... she remembered everything she'd ever said to Raven, from their first meeting, to their fight in the factory, to their argument inside the bunker... the girls' entire relationship had been marked by incidents of absolute contempt and hatred, and now, all Terra wanted was to make everything right... she knew that all the trouble she'd caused Raven was because of her own insecurities and her inability to deal with them.

"Rae... I'm so sorry... I'm sorry for every hateful thing I've ever said to you, I'm sorry for our fight, I'm sorry I betrayed the Titans, I-"

"Forget it, Terra... you're back on the team, and-"

"I can't forget it, Rae! While we were trapped, I just kept thinking of everything... of how I couldn't fight off those men, of how I called you a witch, and... and I even wanted Beast Boy to pick me instead of you! I was so scared, I didn't want to die, and-"

Terra could no longer speak, and she nearly collapsed again, her entire body trembling violently. Raven reached up and softly brushed the tears away from Terra's face, knowing that Terra truly regretted her actions, and knowing that she _could _trust this girl, despite everything that had happened in the past... and that what Terra needed now, more than anything else in the world, was to know that she still had friends... friends like Raven.

"We were _both _scared, Terra... both of us were in terrible danger... it wasn't your fault, it wasn't Beast Boy's, it wasn't mine..."

"No, Raven... it _was _my fault... I couldn't fight those men off, I tried, but-"

"Nobody could've fought them off, it would've taken the whole team to get out of the situation we were in. We were ambushed, Terra... it's all right... I... I was scared too..."

Terra blinked and looked up at Raven, who now had her hand on Terra's shoulder.

"As for you and me... everything you did is in the past. What we need to concentrate on now is being a team... Terra, I know I've said some bad things to you in the past-"

"Things I deserved, Rae..."

"Not all of them. Terra, I do trust you... and I was scared for you, I didn't want you to die thinking that all of this was your fault. You're my friend, Terra... no matter what either of us have done, you're still my friend, and what happened in that bunker isn't going to change that. Ever."

Without saying a word, Terra wrapped her arms around Raven, her head leaning on her teammate's shoulder. Raven's own hands gently caressed Terra's back, and she could hear Terra whispering 'thank you' right into her ear.

O-O-O

"Beast Boy, when I told you you were going to have to choose, I didn't... ya know, I didn't mean literally."

"Ugh... but you were right."

"If it makes you feel better, we can stop by the gas station on the way back to the Tower and I can pick some numbers for you..."

Red X's attempt to lighten the mood had done nothing to ease the burden that still weighed heavily on Beast Boy's heart. The changeling had endangered the two girls that he dearly loved, all because he couldn't make up his mind... not only that, but now Terra and Raven both knew that he loved both of them... after he'd led Terra to believe that she was the only girl in his life.

It was enough to make Beast Boy want to throw up... an action which Red X strongly discouraged.

"This is my mom's car, remember... second I see you start to puke, I put an X on your mouth. You'll probably end up choking to death."

"Oh, that's _very _nice," said Beast Boy, angrily staring into X's eyes. "Just because you saved Raven and Terra doesn't give you any right to-"

"Kid, you forget, I do what I want, when I want."

The thief pulled the convertible into a parking garage adjacent to the bay, guiding it into a spot on the second level and stepping out of the car a few seconds before Beast Boy did.

"You comin'? The T-Car's gonna pull up in front of this place pretty soon, if we're not there they'll go on without us, and you're not sleeping in my room."

"Dude, you forget, I can fly. Why are you coming back to the tower, anyway?"

"I told you... I do what I want, when I want. _And I want to see how Terra's doing... I don't know why, but... it felt terrible seeing her like that... I need to say something to her, at least if she'll let me._"

Of course, X knew that Beast Boy would probably want to talk to Terra first... which was just fine with the thief, who would just have to find a way to occupy himself until Beast Boy was done.

"_Helping Robin look for that bastard Sedaris... that will keep me busy. Anyone who would force someone to choose between two people that they love is pure evil... if it was my mother and sister..."_

Now standing outside the parking garage, Red X looked over at Beast Boy, who was staring down at the sidewalk, his arms to his side.

"By the way, what Sedaris did... that was pretty low. If it had been my mother and sister in those tubes... I don't even want to think about it, Beast Boy. Don't worry... we're going to get him."

"Yes... yes, we will."

O-O-O

Terra leaned against the window in her room, her forehead pressed up against the glass, her eyes staring down at the floor. Through the corners of her tear-filled eyes, she could see the lights of the Jump City skyline pulsating through her window. It was a beautiful sight, but it didn't bring her a moment of comfort... her talk with Raven had given her temporary relief, but there was still the matter of Beast Boy, and the terrible reality that she'd been less than a second away from death.

She heard the door open behind her, but couldn't see who had entered... only when the person began to speak did she find out who had come to talk to her.

"Terra... I'm sorry..."

She turned around and saw Beast Boy, standing a few feet away from her and looking into her eyes, occasionally glancing away. She could hear the sadness in his voice and took a step toward him, brushing her hand across her face.

"Beast Boy, no..."

"I should've told you everything... about Raven... I... how could I say all those things to you and not even let you know that I had feelings for Raven too? It's just-"

"It's fine, Beast Boy... I... I shouldn't have expected you to keep me in your heart the whole time."

"But I did, Terra! I just... whenever I got sad about it, Raven was there... she didn't want to say anything to me, but she did... she got me through the first few weeks, and then I just... I didn't realize how much I cared about her until just a few days ago!"

Beast Boy's voice was beginning to break, but then again, so was Terra's... the both of them could barely speak to one another without breaking down into tears, but neither wanted to cry... both wanted to protect the other from seeing them in such a sad, vulnerable state.

"You... you're right though... she was there, and I was a statue," said Terra, turning back toward the window. "And that was _my _fault..."

Beast Boy reached over and placed his hand on Terra's shoulder. She turned to face him, and he leaned in and wrapped his arms around her, his head leaning over the side of her shoulder.

"But I didn't let you know, and that was my fault, Terra... from now on I'm going to be completely honest... honest about everything... about you, about Raven..."

"You're already honest, Beast Boy..." replied Terra, wiping her tears on the collar of his outfit. "You... came and you told me about-"

"But it could've been too late, Terra-"

"It's never too late."

Beast Boy looked up at Terra, who had managed to muster a smile as she recalled the lesson that Beast Boy taught her, and that she had repeated to him just before sacrificing herself. Both of them were alive... despite all that Sedaris had done, Beast Boy and Terra were alive to tell each other how they felt... it wasn't too late for Beast Boy to tell Terra about Raven.

_But it had almost been..._

As Beast Boy exited Terra's room and made his way back to his own, he brushed past Raven in the hallway. Swallowing a lump in his throat, he turned to her, a nervous and apologetic look on his face.

"Raven... I... I just..."

"I should've known, Beast Boy. This changes nothing between us. You know that."

Raven's expression was calm, neutral... the fact that she now knew that Beast Boy had been harboring secret feelings for her didn't make her mad at all... it didn't make her swoon into his arms, but it didn't make her mad, either. Even after her life had been put in danger, she seemed just fine with Beast Boy's feelings... she was more mad at herself for not discovering them earlier.

"I know... look, if this means you never want to talk to me again-"

"If you need someone to talk to, and it's something that you can't discuss with Terra... yes, you can talk to me. Just don't try to tell me any jokes."

And with that, Raven was gone... back on her way down the hall, leaving Beast Boy alone to contemplate what she had just said.

"_She... she said I can talk to her... she doesn't hate me!"_

As Beast Boy turned back toward his room, he managed to crack his first smile in quite some time.

O-O-O

When Red X stepped into Terra's room, she was sitting on the side of the bed, holding a metallic, heart-shaped object in her hands. It was the box that Beast Boy had made for her, and when she stared at her reflection in the mirror on the inside lid of the box, she could barely stand to look at it for more than a second.

"_It's my fault our lives were in danger... I know Raven and Beast Boy say that it wasn't, but..."_

The door slid open again, and Terra looked up to see Red X, she and Raven's unlikely savior, standing in the doorway. He stepped into the room and stopped about halfway between the bed and the door, looking down at the box that Terra was holding.

"Why are you still here?" asked Terra, who had no idea why the thief had accompanied the Titans all the way back to the Tower.

"Well, Raven and Beast Boy already thanked me for saving them," lied the thief, "and I was hoping to get your thanks too."

Terra raised her eyebrow, then sadly frowned and hung her head, realizing that Red X had indeed saved her life... on more occasions than one.

"I still haven't thanked you for saving me that first time... when you destroyed the crystal that kept me under that mad doctor's control..." While Terra was speaking, X had sat beside her, and instead of looking at her, he continued to gaze down at her box, looking at his own reflection in the mirror on the lid. When he saw a single tear fall into the box, he looked up at Terra and instinctively brushed his hand across her cheek.

"You don't have to thank me anyway. I wasn't trying to save you that first time, I was just trying to save the city... and today wasn't for you either, I was going after Sedaris and ended up freeing you."

More tears came down Terra's face, her mind still awash with guilt, fear, and regret. As she continued to cry, the thief produced a set of goggles and placed them inside the box, prompting Terra to stop crying and to look his way.

"Those were... where did you-"

"On the floor of the atrium, I picked them up on the way out... would've grabbed Raven's cloak too, but if you ask me, she really looks better without it. You, on the other hand... your eyes look a whole lot prettier when you're not wearing anything over them. So beautiful and blue... I've never met anyone with eyes like yours, not even Starfire."

Red X had steered the conversation away from the events of the evening... it was a respite that Terra needed, but she couldn't accept flattery, not when she still felt so terrible...

"How easy would it have been for me to just be a normal girl? Once I got out of that statue... instead of coming here, I could've just started a new life... gone to school like a normal girl... no one knowing about my powers, just..."

Terra sniffled and wiped away another tear, closing the box that she was holding and setting it down on the table beside her bed.

"I tried doing that... tried never putting on this costume again... for five months I managed to go without it. Then one day, the urge just came back, way too strong, and... well, week or so later and I'm right back here again at Titans Tower."

X leaned back onto Terra's bed, staring up at her ceiling and continuing to speak. She observed him with curiosity, finding a strange amount of wisdom in what the thief was saying... like Terra herself, Red X had struggled with his identity... whether he was good or bad, or even if he wanted to keep fighting.

"I mean, you could give it up if you want, but... that urge will always come back. You'll remember all the good times you had and you'll say... 'man, that fight was awesome', or 'those people sure are fun to be with'. Yeah, there's the bad stuff too... I still keep looking over my shoulder for Slade, I know he still wants me to be his apprentice and I know that if he ever comes after me again, he'll make my life a living hell. That scares me sometimes, but... then I trust in myself, and I realize that the only person who really controls my destiny is me. That's why I'd never join the Teen Titans... their destiny is controlled by wherever Cinderblock or Overload or Control Freak attack, but I just go wherever there's something good to steal. Whether or not the Titans show up... eh, it doesn't matter. They'll never catch me."

By now, Terra was lying down next to the thief, her head turned toward his so that she could hear him speak. With every word that he said, her sadness became less and less, until she had reached a point where she no longer felt guilty about what had happened... no longer felt the lingering fear that followed her after nearly being killed.

Once again, she gained comfort from Red X's words... and she found the strength within herself to go on.

"But anyway, what I'm saying is..." Red X got up from the bed and looked down at Terra, who had sat up and was still looking at the thief. "Just be yourself. If you feel like being a Titan, do that. If you feel like being normal, do that. If you feel like having freaky animal sex with Beast Boy, well then be my guest, I've had some pretty weird fantasies of my own, so-"

Terra began giggling, her fingers passing over her lips in an attempt to stifle her growing laughter. She stood up and took Red X's hand, holding it to the level of her waist and gently stroking her fingers across the surface of his glove.

"Thank you for everything, Sanza..."

"When I'm wearing the mask, it's Red X."

"I felt like calling you Sanza."

With a chuckle of his own, the thief turned and departed Terra's room. As he walked down the hallway, the sight of Terra smiling and the sound of her laughter continued to echo in his head... and the smile under his mask began to grow.

"_Maybe I _did _mean to save her after all..."_

The thief went down to the lower level and made his way back to the main room, passing Starfire in the hallway as he did so. When he caught sight of her, she was staring out the window at the Jump City skyline, obviously deep in thought. He briefly thought of stopping to talk to her, but thought differently and kept walking, not knowing that she'd heard him go past. She reached out and took him by the arm, pulling him toward the window.

"You are leaving? I... I have not thanked you for rescuing my friends... Raven and Terra are-"

"Are probably sleeping, and I need some rest too. But you're welcome, Starfire..."

"You say that you are a thief, and that you do not like playing the hero... but what you did-"

"Look, Starfire... no matter what I might do to help you guys, I'm still a thief and I'm going to keep right on stealing as soon as we beat Sedaris. Which brings me to another point... why do you guys always come after me? You say that you have to, because you're heroes, but... I don't hurt anyone. It's when you guys come to stop me that I start hurting people, namely all of you. You guys are coming after me, when you could be going after criminals who are actually dangerous... robbers, and rapists, and murderers... in the time it takes for you guys to fight me and for me to get away, there's someone in an alley somewhere getting shot, and the last thought going through his head is 'where are the Teen Titans? Why aren't the Teen Titans here to save me? What about the-'"

"The police handle those kind of criminals... but... you-"

"I steal from corporations, not from people. I'm no Robin Hood, but I'm certainly not going around robbing from people's houses. There's good, there's evil, I'm somewhere in-between, and there are people on the spectrum way closer to 'evil' than I am."

Red X's defensive words were a surprise to Starfire, who had never once heard the thief attempting to justify his actions... and she honestly didn't know how to respond. She knew how Robin would respond, but she wasn't sure if she agreed with him... especially knowing that there were people going around who _were _much more evil than Red X... people like Sedaris, people like Slade, whose only desire was to cause pain and misery to others. Red X's motives were all about having fun... but one thing about him still didn't sit right with Starfire, and she finally figured out how to respond to his comments.

"But... you do not care if you _do _hurt others," said Starfire, her eyes narrowing. "You are reckless and destructive, and though you may try to keep others from being hurt, you know for a fact that you take little effort to prevent harm to the people you do steal from!"

Starfire turned toward the window, her forehead leaning against the glass as a sadness came into her voice and she focused her attention away from Red X.

"That is why the Titans must always try to stop you... that is why I want you to stop being a thief..."

But by then, the thief had already disappeared... he'd walked out as soon as Starfire had turned her back, and was already out of sight. With a loud sigh, Starfire turned back toward the window.

"_But no matter what you may say, to me or to yourself, I know the kind of person that you truly are..."_

O-O-O

The sun had just begun to rise in a sky filled with pink, red, and orange, a sky that looked even more beautiful out in the bay, where a massive oil platform stood tall, its highest spire reaching nearly a third of a mile into the sky. On the deck of the platform stood Sedaris, gazing out across the bay at the skyline of the city that he was about to destroy.

The bunker had been merely a decoy, a decoy that bought Sedaris the time that his powerful drill needed to punch further down through the crust of the earth, down to the fault line below. A countdown to absolute destruction was quickly approaching finality, and once that terrifying moment arrived, it would let loose a disaster of epic proportions... a disaster that Sedaris had been waiting for.

Intensely focused, he barely noticed the helicopter soaring overhead, the sound of the blades and motor getting louder and louder as the chopper slowly descended onto the platform. A man emerged from the chopper and walked across the platform, completely ignored by Sedaris even as the man walked right up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder.

"So, Alex... I suppose you're going to do whatever you want now that Dullahan is dead."

Sedaris recognized the man's voice immediately, not having to turn around to figure out who was speaking to him.

"Derek, I'm surprised you're here, and I'm starting to think that telling you everything was not such a good idea."

"Telling me about that Sanza kid nearly ridded us of him for good. I left a little pie on his doorstep... the witch that lived inside turned him into a hypno-zombie. His mom came home a bit sooner than I expected, but-"

"I don't need your help."

"...does this mean that you aren't working for me anymore?"

"Derek, I haven't been working for you since the moment you recommended me to Mr. Dullahan," said Sedaris, turning around and looking right into Voscoti's eyes. "Get out of California. I don't care what you do, but that's all the advice I'm going to give you, and it's the best you'll ever get."

Voscoti narrowed his eyes, obviously not happy at the cold shoulder that he was getting from the man who was once his best employee.

"You're not doing this for the money, are you?"

Sedaris said nothing... he folded his arms over his chest and continued to stare down Voscoti, obviously wanting nothing more to do with the security chief who gave him his first job in the private sector.

"...fine then, it's over. You don't want to work for me, fine. But I _did _try to help you... I'd like you to acknowledge that."

Sedaris continued to say nothing, and Voscoti finally got the message. He turned back toward the helicopter and climbed inside, gesturing for his pilot to get him into the air.

"Back to Baddalax, sir?"

"Take me to Vegas... I don't think I'm ever going back to Baddalax again."

As soon as the helicopter was in the air, Sedaris turned back toward the edge of the platform, watching as the sun continued to rise over Jump City... a city, Sedaris thought to himself, that was seeing its final dawn.

O-O-O

Sitting at the computer console in the main room of Titans Tower, Cyborg had been working feverishly to find out everything he could about the man named Alex Sedaris, bodyguard-turned-terrifying megalomaniac. He combed through the man's past, searching for anything about him that may lead the Titans to his current location... and what Cyborg found was quite fascinating, to say the least. With Robin and Raven at his side, Cyborg began piecing together Alex Sedaris' story.

"As a kid, this guy didn't sleep very much... he took a two-hour nap every few days, that's it. His parents didn't know how he managed to do it, it was a complete mystery to them, and the doctors couldn't explain it either, except that it probably had something to do with his body's rate of metabolism. He excelled in sports because of his strength, had a pretty good childhood, wasn't a discipline problem..."

"_He wasn't orphaned at a young age," _thought Robin, rubbing his chin with his finger. _"Means he's not going to think very much like me..."_

"Says here that when he was sixteen, both his parents died in a car wreck," said Cyborg, causing Robin to raise an eyebrow. "Though he seemed to take it pretty well... he wasn't happy about it, but he didn't cry at the funeral..."

"Maybe he was just trying to be tough," replied Raven.

"_Everybody _cries at their parents' funeral..." said Robin gravely. "It's not a matter of 'toughness'."

"His strength and his body's unique properties attracted the attention of the government... soon after his parents died, he was contacted by some... some obscure military group, I had to crack some highly classified files here, but anyway, he ended up as part of this weird genetic experimentation thing... they made him a super-soldier."

"Explains why he was able to beat Starfire so easily," said Raven, "and why he was able to survive everything Beast Boy and I threw at him."

"Did anything happen to him in the army?" asked Robin, wanting to know if there was a particular moment when Sedaris may have 'snapped'. "Any discipline problems there?"

"He wasn't in the army, Robin, he worked for a much smaller group... and he was given an honorable discharge in the summer of 2001. After that he went into the bodyguard business... and that leads us to now. I couldn't find anything in particular to explain why he would do any of this for any reason besides money..."

"And nothing about where he is now," said Raven, still staring up at the screen. _"I should've let Beast Boy go after him... and should've gone with him. Now the city's in serious danger."_

Robin turned away from Raven and Cyborg and began to think once again about what Red X had said... that Sedaris was going after more than just Jump City. He began to think about the bunker, which he knew now was an obvious decoy, and wondered what exactly the Titans had been lured away from.

"_Whatever Sedaris is doing is obviously related to the other two plans... he wants to cause an earthquake, and if I can just figure out how, then I'd be able to find him..."_

O-O-O

Rain was falling again, and the growing rumble of thunder could be heard, just as it had been two nights ago when Red X had visited Titans Tower and had ended up training with Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg for several hours.

Sanza could hear the rain through his window, and could see a flash of lightning from his bed as he sat with his legs dangling over the side, the soles of his feet brushing repeatedly against the carpet.

"_Why do I keep going back there? Why am I drawn to them? It can't be just because of Starfire... even Robin and I seemed to be getting along well when we trained together... what is it about helping them that I find so... so satisfying? It's almost as fun to help them as it is to steal something!"_

Sanza let out a scream of frustration, which his sister overheard from the hallway and came in to see what Sanza was doing.

"Sanza, did you hurt yourself?"

"Maddy, it's nothing that concerns you... I was just thinking about what I did last night."

Maddy sat down next to Sanza and rubbed her socked foot against his leg, her own left leg swinging back and forth at a fairly rapid pace. She blinked her eyes and smiled at him as he spoke, obviously remembering his promise to tell her everything that happened when he went out as Red X.

"I saved Raven and Terra's lives."

"You _what_? Oh wow, tell me!"

"I didn't mean to," said Sanza with a sigh. "They were sorta being held hostage by the bad guy, and I sorta threw one of my Xs at him at the very last second to keep them both from getting blown up."

"Oh wow..." said Maddy, her eyes wide. "That is so cool, did they give you a kiss? They both totally owe you a kiss, even Raven... I know she probably never gives kisses to anybody."

"Oh, they sure did. Raven even gave me a ten-second Frencher, it was awesome," said Sanza, his smile revealing his obvious lie. Maddy rolled her eyes at him, knowing that he was exaggerating his story quite a bit. "Would you believe that _Terra _gave me the Frencher?"

"I said I wanted to know what happened, I don't wanna know your icky masturbation fantasies." Maddy rolled her eyes again, while Sanza's eyes widened in shock. "Yeah, I said 'masturbation'. What do you expect, I go to an inner-city middle school."

"You know we'd both be going to Catholic school if mom hadn't been beaten so badly when _she _went there for twelve years."

"Yeah... I mean, I like public school and all, but... it really sucks that the nuns used to beat mommy so much... I'm sure Catholic school isn't like that now..."

"It's not, but she still didn't want us going," said Sanza. "At least the whole experience didn't turn her off to God entirely."

"Pssssh, I'm surprised you even mention God anymore, seeing how you break all His commandments on a regular basis. You steal all the time, you say 'goddamn it' every day, and you covet Robin's girlfriend every night in your dreams."

Sanza shrugged his shoulders and looked out the window again, watching as the rain continued to fall faster and faster. The mention of God had given Sanza an idea... he had a lot to think about, and he once again felt the need to seek a higher opinion... whether or not a quick prayer at the cathedral would tell him what he needed to know was something that Sanza couldn't quite be sure of, but he knew that he would feel a lot better if he went. He stood up and took an umbrella from the row of hooks inside his closet, then turned toward Maddy and gave her a smile.

"I'm gonna go pray," said Sanza.

"Praying for forgiveness, huh?" Maddy replied, a mischievous smile on her face. "You know you're gonna get soaked, right?"

"As long as I don't get hit by lightning, I'll be fine. Tell mom I'll be back in a while."

Sanza closed the door to his room, leaving his sister inside, still sitting on her bed. It took her a few seconds to realize the gravity of what her brother had done, but when she did, the smile on her face grew even larger.

"The fool left me in his room... I'm gonna try on his Red X suit!"

O-O-O

Sanza knelt at the altar of the Cathedral of St. Ignacius, still hearing the rumble of thunder and the pounding rain outside. The room was completely empty, with most of the priests working elsewhere in the building, leaving Sanza alone with his prayers and with his thoughts.

"God," whispered Sanza, his head bowed as he traced the Sign of the Cross on his chest, "You know who I am even better than I do... is it You making me feel so good when I do heroic things? Is it You that keeps protecting me from getting killed? Is it You that guided me to that room where Raven and Terra were last night? If it was, then... is it because You truly want me to be a hero?"

"If you want God to answer you, why don't I send you to talk to him yourself?"

Sanza opened his eyes and felt a cold wave of fear course through his body, just as a loud clap of thunder shook the cathedral. His prayers had been interrupted by Sedaris, who was standing right behind him.

"_Lord, give me strength..."_

O-O-O

Whether God will help Sanza or not remains to be seen, but it seems that God has lifted his hand of protection over my review column and has smote all the shippers! Raven and Terra are safe for now, but it looks like Sanza's in a heap of trouble... and is Maddy REALLY going to put on the Red X suit? Oh ho, with two more chapters remaining, expect the unexpected and prepare for the most spectacular finale in Teen Titans fanfiction history!


	20. A Disturbing Revelation

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Teen Titans. If I did, this would be on TV and not here. 

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This doesn't take place in the same storyline as my "Forced Base" and "Fractured Heart" stories, so forget those when you're reading this. Also, about Sanza/Red X: When he's wearing the mask, he's Red X. When he's not, he's Sanza. Simple as that.

SECOND AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a sequel to "The Life and Times of Red X", which is in my profile. Read that before you read this. Also, this fic COMPLETELY IGNORES the events of the fifth season (with the exception of "Go"). For the purposes of this fic, "Things Change" NEVER HAPPENED.

O-O-O

"Now let's just see here," said Maddy, smiling as she lifted up the cover of the long, white box that contained her big brother's Red X suit. "I-"

The box was empty... the suit was gone.

"You gotta be kidding me! He was wearing the suit under his clothes the whole-"

Then Maddy remembered the shoes that Sanza had put on just before he left... they hadn't been shoes, they had instead been closer to boots... the black boots that went with the Red X costume.

"Well, that's a drag..."

O-O-O

Sanza turned to face Sedaris, realizing that even with his Red X suit, this fight would be extremely difficult, if not impossible to win.

"I'm surprised you're attacking me. Don't you have a city to destroy?"

As Sanza spoke, he reached down into his pockets and pulled out the gloves and mask of the Red X suit. Slipping the gloves on over his hands, he took a step back, watching to see if Sedaris would make a move.

"You were going to come after me first, so I had to take preventative measures. It's nothing personal."

"Well, this _is _personal."

Now wearing the gloves, Sanza pointed his palms toward Sedaris and blasted him with several exploding Xs, which Sedaris easily countered by smacking them away with his hand. Several of the Xs still hit Sedaris, but the rest flew out into the cathedral, destroying several pews wherever they hit. The smoke from the explosion gave Sanza time to remove his clothes and put on his mask, and now he was Red X once more, lunging forward at Sedaris' throat with X-blades extended. Sedaris grabbed Red X by the arm, tossing him harmlessly away and continuing forward with a stomp aimed at the thief's legs.

"Not this time," said X, rolling out of the way of the stomp and standing back up again, holding a powerful electrical charge between his two hands. The red lightning coursing around his body prevented Sedaris from launching another attack, and the thief took advantage of this, leaping into the air and aiming several more X-bombs straight down at his opponent. The large explosion generated by this shrouded the altar completely in smoke and once again concealed the thief from view.

"You realize by now that your attacks don't do a damn thing to me," Sedaris replied, peering through the smoke and seeing Red X's silhouette darting back and forth across the front of the cathedral. _"I'll just let him tire himself out a bit..."_

As the smoke cleared, a large, glowing net flew from Red X toward Sedaris, who leapt back to avoid the net, then charged forward over it, only to be caught by a powerful electrical burst emitted by the netting as soon as Sedaris came in contact. He let out a scream and fell to one knee, while Red X leapt at him and kicked him in the head, knocking him away.

"Now _you _realize that I can combine two of my weapons at once," said the thief, firing several Xs in Sedaris' direction. The Xs expanded into cables and wrapped themselves around Sedaris' arms as he tried to stand. He flexed out to break the cables, only to have the cables expand on their own and form a large, circular ring around Sedaris' body. The ring then transformed into a column, from which a bright red glow began to emerge.

"_What is this?" _thought Sedaris, closing his eyes as the light became far too bright for him to stand. "Dammit!"

The entire column detonated in an enormous explosion, blasting a huge crater in the altar and sending Red X, who was standing some distance away, skidding backwards. He raised his forearm to his eyes to shield himself from the smoke and debris, letting out several coughs as the dust began wafting over him.

"Gotcha," X whispered, lowering his hands from his face.

"No, I've got you."

A powerful arm wrenched itself around the thief's neck from behind, lifting him into the air and choking him with an immense amount of force. As he coughed and gasped in surprise, Sedaris, who still had X in the powerful headlock, began to speak.

"That could've really hurt if I had been there... that's very impressive."

"How... how did you... I-"

"Obviously, you didn't pay attention while you were combining your weapons, but in the moments before the explosion, the outside of that column transformed from solid metal into pure light and I was able to walk right out. Energy and matter are _conserved_, but you're too stupid to know that... or perhaps you're just too arrogant to care."

Sedaris released the headlock and threw Red X to the ground, allowing him less than a second to catch his breath before striking him with a powerful kick to the ribs, sending him rolling several feet across the floor. He then casually walked past the thief and up onto the altar, standing just on the outside of the crater that X's explosive blast had made.

"I suppose you'd like to know why I'm doing what I'm doing... why I'm going to destroy your city and so much more. Would you like to know?"

"I'd like you... to shut up..." coughed X, slowly picking himself off of the ground while continuing to clutch his ribs. "This fight's not over..."

"Of course not, but you looked like you needed a break."

X's eyes narrowed at Sedaris, and he raised his palm again, preparing to launch another attack at his dangerous foe. Sedaris had to be stopped _now_... Red X knew that he was in a fight not just for his life, but the lives of everyone in the city as well.

"We fight," said Red X, his palm beginning to glow. "We fight now!"

Several more explosive Xs were launched at Sedaris, who stood his ground as the Xs detonated around him, creating another explosion and cloud of smoke but leaving the powerful man completely unharmed, and leaving Red X even more frustrated than before.

"Jump City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, all of them gone by sunrise, all of them completely destroyed by the most horrific cataclysm in history. Wouldn't you like to know exactly how I'm going to pull that off?"

"I don't give a shit whether you wanna destroy one person or a million people, it's not gonna happen!" shouted Red X, rushing forward at Sedaris and showering him with a flurry of punches and kicks, each of them either dodged or blocked. When the thief finished his series of attack with a powerful uppercut, Sedaris avoided it by swinging back his head, watching as the thief's fist soared past him, just an inch from the tip of his nose. Then, his head came forward, slamming into Red X's forehead and knocking him flat on his back, the headbutt nearly knocking him out. "Unnnngh... damn you..."

"As soon as my drill reaches the San Andreas Fault, a pre-programmed computer sequence will activate, triggering a massive earthquake that will accelerate the natural processes of the planet by ten million years. A massive chunk of the state of California will fall into the sea. The ensuing tsunami will sweep across the Pacific Ocean, washing over Hawaii and destroying cities such as Tokyo, Sydney, and Shanghai. _That _is what you and the Titans have been trying to stop me from doing, right?"

The thief didn't stand this time, simply staring up at Sedaris, in shock at what he was hearing. If such a plan was pulled off... tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions of people would be killed. Why _anyone _would want to do such a horrific thing was beyond comprehension, even for Red X, who'd dealt with people as vicious and as evil as Slade.

"Nothing like it has ever happened before... the deaths of millions of people in a single event... don't you want to know what it's like? Aren't you even the least bit curious to see how the world will react? What they'll say on the news? What they'll write in the history books? Such a disaster... a sight of incomprehensible terror... and absolute beauty."

"You're psychotic..." Red X rose to his feet again, clenching his fists and speaking with a newfound determination, determination to stop this madman at any cost. "Killing millions of innocent people just to see what the news would say about it? That's the most fucking sick thing I've ever heard!"

"You really shouldn't swear in church, Sanza."

"Fuck church, I'm kicking your ass!"

Red X ran at Sedaris again, striking him with a kick that impacted his cheek and send him back several steps, slowly descending into the crater in the center of the altar. Another kick was blocked by Sedaris' forearm, while a punch landed squarely on his jaw.

"That barely even made me flinch," said Sedaris, striking straight forward with a kick that hit Red X right in the chest and threw him off of the altar again. He then turned around and reached up, toward the massive, gold-leaf painted cross that hung from the ceiling behind the altar, measuring ten feet from top to bottom. With one mighty tug, he freed the cross from its mounting, walking toward Red X and carrying the cross like a baseball bat. "This, on the other hand..."

Sedaris swung the massive cross downward at the thief, who somersaulted out of the way and watched as the top of the cross impacted the marble at the foot of the altar, making a large crack. He swung the cross at Red X again, who leapt up onto one end and ran across the massive piece of painted wood, leaping into the air and striking Sedaris across the face with a spinning kick that knocked him off-balance. He dropped the cross and tumbled backward, falling into the center of the crater, limbs sprawled out and eyes glazed over.

Despite the fact that he could begin to feel the effects of exhaustion, Red X descended into the crater and down toward Sedaris, pointing his palm down at him and firing a metallic X across his body to keep him pinned in place.

"You're the worst kind of criminal... you're not curious, you're just evil, and I don't know whether to kill you or to call the Titans to have you put in jail."

As Red X stood over him, Sedaris showed no sign of fear... no emotion at all, looking up into the thief's eyes as he continued to speak.

"You're not scared of me? Fine, I'll just have to convince you..." X once again extended his wrist blades, kneeling down beside Sedaris and placing the tip of one of the blades at his throat. Again, Sedaris said nothing... showed no expression at all. "You don't think I won't kill you because we're in a church? Believe me, God heard _exactly _what you're planning, and I think He wants you dead as much as I do."

"You think I'm really helpless, don't you? You should know a lot better than that."

In an instant, Sedaris snapped the metallic bands holding him to the ground, his right arm snapping through the metal and knocking the blade away from his neck. Then, his left arm reached up, its fingers gripping tightly around X's throat. The thief let out a gasp as Sedaris lifted him into the air, then a cry of pain as he was thrown down to the ground, landing on his back and having all the wind knocked out of him.

With one cruel kick, Sedaris knocked Red X out of the crater, sending him tumbling down from the altar and coming to a stop on the aisle in the middle of the room, some fifteen feet away. At that moment, several priests rushed inside the room, only to see a good portion of the room destroyed, and a large man in sunglasses walking toward the downed body of one of the most fearsome thieves in the city. Sedaris gave them a single look, and they rushed from the room, leaving the two combatants alone to finish their battle.

But it was quite clear that the battle was already finished... Red X was hurt and exhausted, having used all of his best weapons against Sedaris but barely being able to give him little more than a scratch. He watched as the madman slowly approached him, barely able to get to one knee before his foe was right on top of him.

"I really feel sorry for you, since you're not going to get to see the amazing events that are about to befall your city... but I'm sure your mother and sister will just love the show."

"_Son of a bitch..." _As Sedaris reached down toward X's neck again, the thief drove his elbow forward... right into Sedaris' groin. The man let out a gasp of pain, doubling over and stumbling back, which gave Red X time to get to a standing position. "You just reminded me why I have to win this-"

Sedaris drew his hand back and smacked Red X hard across the face, knocking him on his back again and nearly causing him to pass out.

"You can keep fighting until I snap your neck for all I care," said Sedaris, still grimacing slightly but once again preparing to put the thief down for good. "You're not leaving this room alive."

Red X struggled to get up, but he could see that Sedaris would get to him before he could even get to his knees again. Clenching his teeth, he pointed both of his palms upward, closing his eyes as he got ready to give Sedaris everything he had.

"_I'm not letting you hurt my family... I don't have to be standing to beat you!"_

The sound of shattering windows behind Sedaris didn't distract him, but the Batcable wrapped around his arms certainly did, and he let out a loud cry as he felt himself being yanked backwards. A hail of Starbolts slammed into his body, followed by an enormous dark energy blast and a blue beam of light from a sonic energy cannon.

"Titans, go!" shouted Robin, standing at the back of the altar with Starfire, Raven, and Terra hovering in the air behind him, and Beast Boy and Cyborg at his sides, poised to attack. Sedaris turned toward them, only to feel dozens of X-bombs explode against his back. Red X now stood up, slowly walking toward Sedaris and preparing to launch another attack.

"I don't believe this..." muttered Sedaris to himself, looking behind him to see Red X, and then looking forward to see the Titans. At that moment, Beast Boy, transformed into a rhinoceros, slammed into his side and sent him flying into a nearby wall.

"That's for Raven and Terra, and there's a whole lot more where that came from!"

"A whole lot more from all of us," Terra added, lifting her arms and sending chunks of marble and concrete raining down upon Sedaris, battering his body even more and slamming him repeatedly against the hard wall just behind his back.

"You will not get away from us this time!" shouted Starfire, her green eyes aglow. She blasted Sedaris with eye lasers, firing a new blast every time he tried to walk forward. "Everyone, attack him with everything that you have!"

The wall behind Sedaris quickly crumbled as the attacks came in at an increasing rate, and soon, all that was left of the man was a large pile of rubble where the wall that he'd been backed up against had once stood. Terra immediately used her powers to clear out the rubble, only to see that Sedaris had completely disappeared... there was no trace of him anywhere in the room.

"Did we... vaporize him?" asked Starfire, a hint of worry on her face.

"I don't think so," said Robin, kicking a rock away from the rubble pile. "I think he ran off again!"

"He couldn't have gotten far," said Red X, clenching his fists and pointing toward the cathedral's entrance. "He must've slipped out that door, we have to go after him!"

As the only one who understood the true evil of Sedaris' plan and the true gravity of the danger to the city, Red X was now completely determined to stop him. He dashed out the front door into the street, with the Titans following close behind. As thunder continued to ring out, the thief looked back and forth for any sign of Sedaris... but the man was gone, having completely disappeared. Letting out a loud cry of frustration, the thief fell to one knee... partly from despair, and partly from exhaustion.

"It's all right," said Terra, placing a comforting hand on Red X's shoulder. "We're going to stop him..."

Red X stared up into the sky, then back down at the ground, his entire body trembling.

"That sick bastard... he's going to destroy the entire state... he's going to drop it into the sea... I heard him, he told me everything..."

"What did he tell you? Did he tell you where he was going?" Robin's questions were coming quickly, and a worried look could be seen on his face as well. Red X shook his head, and Robin let out an angry sigh. "But you said-"

"He told me everything _except _where he was going... he just said that he was going to trigger an earthquake that would rip California away from the rest of the country... he said that he was going to do it just to see what it would look like. He's sick... he's a complete psychopath, he's as evil as Slade..."

"No one's as evil as-"

"Robin, did you hear what Red X just told us?" asked Raven, her arms across her chest. "He's going to kill hundreds of millions of people out of sheer morbid curiosity. That's pretty evil to me."

"Not to mention what he almost did to Raven and Terra..." said Beast Boy quietly, bowing his head and trying to block out the horror of the previous night from his mind.

"We're going back to the Tower... I may have a lead on Sedaris' location, and if I'm correct, we'll need to get there in a hurry."

Robin began running toward the T-Car, which had been left in a nearby parking garage. The Titans all raised an eyebrow, not having been given any prior indication that Robin knew where Sedaris might be... even if it was only a hunch, they all eagerly followed him, anticipating the news. While the Titans headed toward the parking garage, Red X turned back toward the cathedral.

"Are you coming?" The thief turned at the sound of Terra's voice, and could see her standing just a few feet away, having stopped to see what Red X was doing. "The T-Car is-"

"I have to get my other clothes, I left them inside. I'll be back."

X dashed inside the sanctuary and toward the altar, where he'd left his discarded clothes. He picked them up and began to turn away, before noticing the cross still resting on the floor where Sedaris had dropped it.

"This is the second time I've been in a fight that wrecked this place," said X to himself, remembering his fight with Robin several months ago in the very same cathedral. "Lord, I hope You can forgive me this time... I sorta didn't start the fight, so..."

The thief let out a sigh, turning from the altar and walking back toward the entrance of the cathedral.

"_I came here to get some answers and I almost ended up getting killed... and I still don't know what God wants me to do... there's only one thing I do know... I have to help the Titans stop Sedaris... mom and sis and everyone else in the city are counting on us..."_

O-O-O

Back at Titans Tower, Robin was discussing his theory with the others, displaying a map of the city on the large screen in the main room.

"Sedaris plans to use a massive drill to control the fault line beneath the city... and what kind of structure would have a massive drill?"

"A massive hardware store?" replied Beast Boy, immediately drawing a look of annoyance from Raven.

"An oil platform," said Terra, sparing Beast Boy any further embarrassment while simultaneously progressing the conversation forward.

"That's right," replied Robin, pulling up a diagram of every single nearby offshore oil rig and its position along the coast. "Sedaris must be using one of the oil platforms outside the city... and there's only one platform close enough to the fault line that Sedaris would be able to use."

Another diagram appeared on screen, displaying a massive oil rig and its structural information, its every nuance and measurement displayed for the Titans to see.

"The Valentine Platform, a mile-high, with two-thirds of its height contained underwater. It's the world's largest oil platform, capable of boring dozens of miles into the earth... and it's the only platform with a drill that could activate the fault. Sedaris is on the Valentine Platform, and we need to get there right now and stop him."

Red X stared up at the screen, slightly annoyed that Robin hadn't been able to find out this information sooner... at least before the group was led on a wild goose chase to a bunker that nearly cost he and the Titans their lives.

"I could've figured _that _out," quipped the thief, slumping into the couch where he was seated and pointing at the screen.

"Then why _didn't _you?" Raven replied, narrowing her eyes as she looked down at X. "Don't open your mouth unless you're planning to say something intelligent."

Red X rolled his eyes, while Robin continued to talk to the group, obviously caring little about what the thief had just said.

"The lives of a lot of people are depending on us stopping Sedaris as soon as possible. We may have just a few hours before he activates the earthquake, so we're heading out immediately. I think the incident in the cathedral today showed exactly what Sedaris is made of... individually, he may be able to beat us, but every single time we've fought him together, he hasn't even stayed to fight. That's his weakness... he's constantly trying to get us alone, and whenever he has to fight us all, he runs like a coward."

The Titans nodded in agreement, while Red X leaned back on the couch, his eyes staring up at the ceiling.

"He ain't gonna be able to run anymore!" said Cyborg, smiling and pumping his fist. "He's no match for the Teen Titans!"

"We shall stop Sedaris and bring safety back to our city... with all of us working together, Sedaris cannot prevail!" The optimism on Starfire's face was evident... though she had been fearful of Sedaris before, the strength of her friends comforted her, and she knew that the next time she fought Sedaris, she would be fighting him alongside the rest of the Teen Titans.

"Remember, Sedaris is strong, but he's just one man... he's just a criminal, and we're going to bring him down like every other criminal we've faced!" Robin's words of encouragement brought an affirmative cheer from Beast Boy and Cyborg, and even Terra, who had been apprehensive ever since the incident in the bunker, managed to crack a smile. "This is it, team... Titans, go!"

The Titans dispersed from the room, heading toward the elevator and the roof, where the T-Plane had been prepared and was ready to go. Red X was last to leave, standing up from the couch and walking toward the elevator. Again Terra lagged behind to make sure that he was coming... and she noticed immediately that he was nowhere _near _as excited as the others.

"Sanza... you're not hurt, are you?"

The thief shook his head and walked past Terra, standing in front of the elevator and waiting for it to come back down. She stood alongside him, a look of concern on her face as he leaned into the closed elevator door and let out a sigh.

"I prayed and I prayed, and all I got for an answer was Sedaris trying to kill me. He came out of nowhere, Terra... I almost get the feeling that God _doesn't _want me to be a hero..."

"So... you think he wants you to be a thief? Sanza, I still remember what you told me yesterday... that all I needed to do was to be myself..."

The elevator door opened, and Terra climbed in, with Red X entering the elevator close behind her. The door slid shut, and the elevator began its ascent up the shaft, with the thief still deep in thought.

"_Be myself... but God is a part of me... right? Then again, there's no way that He'd just want me to let Sedaris destroy everything, so... wait a minute, I'm Red X. I'm out for myself... What's in _my _best interests? Being a hero, or being a thief?"_

Maybe he was both... or maybe he was neither of them at all. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the elevator door sliding open, and the sight of Robin, Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy, and Cyborg, standing out in the hallway and waiting for the two stragglers.

"We need to go right now," said Robin, slightly annoyed with Red X and Terra's tardiness. While Terra apologized and joined Beast Boy at his side, X stepped out of the elevator and didn't even look at Robin, casually strolling out into the hallway without seemingly a care in the world. "What was keeping-"

"Cut me some slack, kid, I've already fought Sedaris _once _today, I was taking a little nap. You got a problem with that or something?"

O-O-O

Deep below the ocean, near the bottom of the oil platform and inside a large room lit only by a dim blue light, sat several dozen capsules, each of them about the size of a bathtub, and each of them filled with a clear, slightly bubbling liquid substance. Sedaris stood in front of the capsules, looking out over them with a smile on his face.

"Quantum computers... when connected, they contain more processing power than every other computer ever created, multiplied a quintillion times... the pinnacle of Frederick Dullahan's work, now at my command..."

"Sir..." A short man in a camouflage had entered the room and was now standing right behind Sedaris, waiting to deliver him an urgent message. "The Titans... they're headed this way. Their plane is in the sky..."

Sedaris' eyes went wide under his sunglasses... he hadn't anticipated that the Titans would be able to locate him, and began to wonder if perhaps he'd told Red just a bit too much... and if now, his arrogance would be his downfall.

"Do not allow them to get down here... don't even allow them to enter the structure. As soon as they exit their plane and onto the platform, I want you and the other men to kill them. Do NOT let them in here, do you understand?"

Sedaris' words were coming at a slightly elevated pace, and there was a hint of nervousness in his voice... for the first time since he'd taken command of the oil platform, he seemed to be losing his cool.

"Yes sir," replied the man, turning away from Sedaris and dashing out of the room to alert the other soldiers. As he left, Sedaris glanced toward the adjacent room, where an elevator led directly down to the bottom of the platform, and to the controls of the computer programmed to activate the earthquake.

"_Even if they do get here... they'll never make it in time to stop the inevitable... Dark Calamity will go forward without a hitch... and I will be witness to the most incredible disaster the world has ever seen."_

O-O-O

Aboard their plane, the Titans and Red X could see the Valentine Platform looming in the distance, its massive spire jutting 1,700 feet into the air. Far below the waves lay the bulk of the structure... and most likely, somewhere inside, was Sedaris and the massive computer that was programmed to trigger a terrifying earthquake.

"This place will be _very _heavily guarded, so stay on your toes... no matter what, all seven of us are sticking together."

Robin's instructions brought a solemn nod from Beast Boy, who wasn't about to let either Raven or Terra out of his sight. The latter glanced nervously out the window, her eyes darting back and forth between the top of the platform and the ocean below.

"_I'm not letting you get the best of me or my friends again, Sedaris..." _thought Terra, her face pressed against the window, her hand resting on her chin. "I'm just glad that all of this is about to be over..."

"Yeah, it'll be nice to have a day or two without having to worry about the city getting ripped up," replied Cyborg. "Then again, as soon as we kick Sedaris' butt, we'll probably have another villain show up and try to take out the city. It never fails."

"Which is why I hate playing the hero," said Red X as the plane came in for a landing on top of the platform. "Way, way too much work."

"But what about being a thief? That is quite a bit of work..." said Starfire, glancing at Red X. "You must first break into a structure... then you must take out the guards and find the object that you intend to steal. Then, if we show up, you have to fight us. That is quite a bit of work."

"That's not work, that's _fun_," Red X replied. _"And I don't ever have to worry about what'll happen to mom and sis if I screw up..._"

The plane descended and came to a stop, and the six Titans and Red X climbed out, glancing over at the side of the huge platform and at a set of metallic stairs that winded around the structure, descending downward.

"That's where we need to go," said Robin, pointing toward the stairs. "Let's-"

Almost immediately, the group could see dozens of guards emerging from every direction, walking out of doors or out from around large structures mounted on top of the platform. More than a hundred in all, and quite possibly closer to two hundred, the men, all wearing identical camouflage jumpsuits, came at the Titans with weapons in hand. Terra and Raven, who had seen a similar sight during their ambush in the bunker, immediately went into battle stances, while Robin extended his recently-repaired bo staff and began twirling it rapidly around his body.

"Sedaris was expecting us," said Cyborg, readying his sonic cannon.

"No shit, Sherlock," replied Red X, his eyes narrowing as he watched the guards draw nearer and nearer. _"This should be interesting..."_

Starfire was the first of the Titans to attack, tossing several Starbolts into the rapidly approaching crowd of guards and knocking a section of the first row well back into the ranks. Some of the guards opened fire, but Raven's energy shield blocked the bullets and gave Cyborg a chance to strike.

"This ain't gonna be pretty, but it sure is gonna be fun!" shouted Cyborg, launching several metallic cables into the crowd and using them to pick up some of the guards and toss them from the platform and into the water below. With every guard that Cyborg tossed away, another came forward to take his place, and he soon found himself overwhelmed by the men as they got closer and closer. "A little help here would be nice!"

Help came in the form of Beast Boy, who as a t-rex was able to keep nearly two dozen of the men away at a time, biting at them with his jaws while using his tail to beat them back into the crowd. Robin and Red X stood back to back, fending off the men with a combination of fisticuffs and weapon swings, while Raven kept her shield up to guard her friends from gunfire.

"Need a rock, need a rock, need a rock..." Terra had been backed into the edge of the platform, and was trying to use her powers to lift up earth from the ocean floor, with little success. Nearly a dozen men stood in front of her, their guns lowered toward Terra's face. _"C'mon, how long does it take a rock to move two-thirds of a mile?"_

Seeing Terra in trouble, Beast Boy transformed into a falcon and attempted to fly to Terra's aid, only to have a bullet nip him in the wing and send him plummeting back toward the metallic platform floor, landing on his face and detransforming with a painful groan.

"Beast Boy!" shouted Terra, her eyes widening just as several bullets came whizzing her way. She crouched down and closed her eyes, only to have the bullets turn black and fall to the ground, having been stopped by Raven's telekinesis just in time. "Don't worry about me, help Beast Boy!"

"I'm getting to it." Raven turned away toward Terra and back in the direction of the fallen green changeling, who was being repeatedly stomped by the surrounding guards. "Azarath, metreon, zinthos!"

A huge burst of energy blasted into the guards around Beast Boy, knocking them into the air and sending several flying off the edge of the platform.

"There's too many!" cried Red X, no longer able to keep the soldiers away with his martial arts skills. Nearby, Robin was having his own problems, unable to keep forty men away with his bo staff. As the two struggled, Starfire, who was flying overhead, gasped at their plight and launched a flurry of Starbolts down at the area, hitting not just the soldiers, but Robin and Red X as well.

"Sorry!" shouted Starfire, her hands flying to her lips. "They are in such close proximity to you that I-"

"It's fine, Star," replied Robin, rubbing his slightly-singed shoulder and looking around at the group of unconscious men surrounding him. "You took care of the guards, so... Starfire, behind you!"

Starfire couldn't turn in time to avoid being tackled by a dozen men at once, who pressed her into the ground and began raining punches and stomps down on her head and back. As Robin rushed to Starfire's aid, Red X looked toward the edge of the platform to see that Terra was still in trouble.

"_No rocks up here..." _thought Red X, slowly walking toward the soldiers who had Terra trapped. _"Guess I'll need to give her a hand..."_

As the soldiers once again raised their guns toward Terra's head, she began looking nervously between them and the water, still waiting on the rocks from the ocean floor to rise to the surface.

"I don't think they're coming," said one of the men, a smirk on his face. "You'd better just get ready to die, girl."

Out of the water came several stones, each one flying into the foreheads of one of the soldiers and knocking them out. By the time Red X had gotten over to help, Terra had already defeated her attackers, and bore a proud smile on her face.

"You know that once we get inside, your powers are pretty much useless, right?" quipped the thief, causing Terra to give a casual shrug.

"I guess I'll just have to use my fists then," replied Terra, trying to be as optimistic as she could. _"He's right, though..."_

"Who knows, maybe we'll find some rocks once we get inside. If we don't, just know that I've got your back."

Red X turned away from Terra and was immediately confronted by six more soldiers, their guns drawn. He took a step back, and Terra's rocks zoomed past him, hitting the soldiers in the head and knocking them out as well. The rocks then returned to Terra and began spinning rapidly around her body, held in artificial orbit by Terra's amazing powers.

"Then again, nothing says I can't take these rocks inside with me, right?"

The six rocks were immediately shot to pieces as several more soldiers charged at Terra and X, reloading their rifles as they ran. Terra gasped and stepped back, while Red X ran past her, his palms held out in front of his body.

"I'll handle _these _guys," said the thief, blasting the ground in front of the men with several exploding Xs and sending them flying off the side of the platform, splashing down into the ocean below. "Now, what did you say about those rocks again?"

The Titans had been successful in keeping the soldiers at bay, but as they continued to fight, the soldiers they'd managed to knock out earlier were waking up and rushing back into the fray, providing a constant stream of opponents that quickly began to wear down the group's strength. Only a couple dozen men had been knocked off the platform entirely, and all the rest were still a threat... and still under orders to exterminate the intruders at all costs. The six Titans and X gathered in a circle at the center of the platform and watched as the soldiers slowly began closing in on them.

"Every time we knock a few of them down, more come at us... and by the time we've dealt with _that _group, we're dealing with even more of them again," said Robin, his bo staff still held out in his hands. "Cyborg, when you knocked those guys off-"

"They're alive, we're only about fifty feet above the water... they'll survive the plunge. You're not getting the same idea I'm getting, are you?"

"Exactly the same," said Robin, a smile appearing on his face. He charged at the soldiers and swung his staff completely around, taking down nearly a dozen of them and keeping the others at bay. Starfire and Raven lifted off into the air again and concentrated their blasts toward the edges of the platform, knocking several more of the men off the sides and sending them into the ocean.

Terra had managed to gather a few more small rocks from the bottom of the ocean, and was using them to clear a path for herself into the middle of the crowd of soldiers, with Beast Boy and Cyborg following close behind her. Red X stayed at the rear of the group, kicking or punching anyone that got too close.

"You guys have a plan?" asked Red X, just as one of the men attempted to pick him up by the leg. "Because I'm really busting my butt over here..."

"I've got a great plan," said Terra, turning to Beast Boy. "Change into a really big dinosaur with a really long tail... brontosaurus should do."

"Got it," said Beast Boy, immediately transforming into the long-necked dinosaur and swatting away some of the soldiers with his tail. A large group of the men began attempting to climb up his legs and onto his back, which was exactly what Terra wanted. She turned to Cyborg.

"Cyborg, can you get on Beast Boy's back and wait until he's got guys all over him? As many as can possibly fit..."

"Uh, sure, I guess..." Cyborg ran up Beast Boy's tail, knocking away any of the men who were standing in front of him. He stood at the center of Beast Boy's back and watched as the soldiers slowly overtook his friend, swarming up his legs and climbing onto his neck and tail. "There's like five dozen guys up here! Terra, are you sure you know what you're... Terra?"

Terra had completely disappeared, and it could only be assumed that she'd been overwhelmed by the large crowd of soldiers. Red X was gone as well, while Robin had run up to help Beast Boy, thinking that his green friend was in trouble.

"Starfire, I've completely lost sight of Terra..." Raven continued blasting down at the men below, watching as a slowly-growing crowd of them began to gather underneath her and her Tamaranian friend. "And Red X is gone too..."

"I fear they may have been crushed! We must look for them!"

Beast Boy was disappearing as well, his massive dinosaur body overrun by guards, and feeling as if he was about to detransform... while Cyborg was frantically punching at the men who had come to knock him off of the green dinosaur's back, occasionally blasting a few of them away with his laser.

"Beast Boy, I think I know what Terra wanted me to do," shouted Cyborg, "but you're gonna have to cover your ears!"

"_Uh... dude, that's kinda impossible right now..." _thought Beast Boy, who even if he could move, would've been unable to bring his stumpy legs up to the level of his head. _"This is gonna hurt, isn't it?"_

Cyborg lifted his arm and began to activate one of his weapons, only to be tackled from behind and knocked off of Beast Boy's back, falling into a huge crowd of men and disappearing instantly.

"CYBORG!" shouted Robin, watching what had just occurred and being unable to do anything about it, still frantically fending off soldiers with his bo staff. _"I'm not losing anyone today..."_

Robin reached down to his utility belt and pulled out a large canister of tear gas, which he threw to the ground, sending up a large cloud of noxious smoke that quickly sifted over the surrounding area, incapacitating all of the soldiers who'd climbed onto Beast Boy, as well as Beast Boy himself, who detransformed and fell to the ground, his eyes burning severely. Robin himself took the brunt of the gas, collapsing to the ground in the choking fog and clenching up into a fetal position, knowing that he'd be unable to see or fight for at least a minute.

"_I just hope that bought Cyborg and the others some time... that was a desperate move..."_

Terra, who had been trapped beneath a crush of soldiers and had been unable to coordinate the rest of her plan, now watched as the cloud of tear gas came toward her. Suddenly, she found her vision completely cut off as something sticky was placed over her eyes.

"Hey, what gives?" shouted Terra, reaching up to her face only to have her hands quickly yanked down and pulled to her sides.

"You can thank me later," replied Red X, keeping his own eyes firmly closed beneath his mask and crouching down next to Terra, who now had a sticky X pasted over the top of her face. "That stuff really hurts... believe me, I know..."

"I just hope that whatever you put on my eyes doesn't hurt even worse when it comes off..." whispered Terra. _"Dammit, my plan... I just hope Beast Boy and Cyborg are okay..."_

As the soldiers who _had _been affected by the tear gas began to sputter and cough, falling to the ground and rubbing their burning eyes, the other soldiers ran toward the edges of the platform, a few of them fleeing down the stairs to the safety of the inside of the structure.

"Damn, Robin!" shouted Cyborg, holding his hand over his stinging eyes while holding his other arm high into the air. "I know you had to get those guys off me and Beast Boy, but did you have to throw down tear gas?"

"Just... just do what you have to do, Cyborg!" shouted Robin painfully. "Activate your concussion blast!"

"That's _exactly _what I was gonna do," said Cyborg, managing a quick smile. "Everybody hunker down!"

A few of the soldiers, realizing that they were about to be hit by something that was extremely powerful, stood up and fought off the pain of the tear gas to charge at Cyborg. Just before any of the soldiers reached him, Cyborg activated the concussion blast, triggering an enormous shockwave that blasted dozens of men off the roof in an instant and sent all the others flying into the air. Beast Boy transformed into a gorilla and held on tightly to a wall, while Raven used an energy shield to keep her and Starfire from feeling the effects of the blast.

"Robin!" shouted Starfire as she watched the Boy Wonder be thrown off the roof, only to see him deploy his Birdcable and latch it onto the grated steel floor at the last moment, keeping him anchored to the platform. Red X and Terra went flying as well, both of them screaming loudly as they flew back toward the edge.

"I've got you!" shouted Red X, reaching out and gripping Terra's wrist in his left hand, while using his right to fire a grappling hook that latched onto the platform in a similar fashion to Robin's Birdcable. The two of them dangled from the side of the platform, while Robin was helped up by Starfire, who set him down next to Raven near a large metallic crane.

"Robin... your eyes, the gas has damaged them..." said Starfire, attempting to peek under Robin's mask. "Just let me check them, and-"

"They still sting a bit, but they'll be fine," replied Robin, looking over at Beast Boy and Cyborg as they walked over to join their three teammates. "Great work, Cyborg..."

"You really coulda warned us a little better about dropping that gas, though," said Beast Boy, rubbing his aching eyes.

"He had no choice, you and Cyborg were about to be crushed, and we had no idea where Terra and Red X were," said Raven, taking a quick look around the platform. "Speaking of them..."

Red X and Terra lifted themselves onto the side of the platform, Terra having just peeled the X off of her eyes, where an X-shaped mark could still be seen. They walked over to the center of the platform and met up with the rest of the group. All of them showed signs of exhaustion, if only slight... they'd battled through more than two hundred well-trained soldiers, and had come out with a hard-fought victory.

But the victory was clouded by one fact... the fighting wasn't nearly over yet. They'd merely reached the top of the platform, and had nearly 3,600 feet to go to reach Sedaris.

"We need to move on," said Robin, scanning the platform to check if any of Sedaris' men remained. The few that had been able to stay on the platform after Cyborg's shockwave had immediately fled down into the structure, probably warning their boss of the Titans' victory. "Let's go."

O-O-O

The Titans and Red X descended a metallic staircase that went around the entire perimeter of the structure, sloping downward until it ended at a single door, a door that led into the oil rig itself. Inside was a single hallway that was flanked by several rooms, rooms that the Titans didn't even bother to check... they already knew where Sedaris was. Down at the bottom, two-thirds of a mile below the surface of the ocean... with his finger on the button of a machine capable of killing millions of people.

Most of the guards had been defeated, but the group still had cause to be worried... they had no way of knowing when Sedaris would be able to activate the earthquake. Once again, they were in a race against time.

The hallway ended at an elevator, as well as paths that led to the left and the right. Immediately, Robin opened the elevator and led the group inside.

"Will it take us to the bottom?" asked Starfire, observing the panel of buttons. Robin shook his head, a grim look on his face.

"It's not programmed to go down to the bottom of the platform... it'll take us a couple dozen stories below the surface of the water... once we emerge, we'll still have a lot of ground to cover."

"At least it's a start," said Beast Boy. "Let's get movin'."

The elevator began to descend, a slow journey that delivered the Titans and Red X below the water and down several hundred feet, finally stopping at its destination. The door opened, and the Titans emerged into an enormous open room which they could tell had been recently emptied. The ceiling of the room was made of a material that allowed the group to see right through it, though in the darkness outside, they could see very little of the water above. The room was lit only by dim yellow lights built into the walls, just inches above the floor.

"This room must be beautiful in the daytime," said Terra, staring up at the pitch-black plexiglass ceiling of the football-field sized room. "You can see all the fish, and all the waves..."

"This room gives me the creeps," said Cyborg, walking at a quick pace toward the small metallic door that he could see at the other end. "I got a feeling that we need to get out as soon as we can..."

"Cyborg's right, we've gotta get to Sedaris and stop him from activating that earthquake. Let's not take any more time in here than we have to," said Robin, breaking out into a run and dashing across the floor of the room, closely followed by Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy, and Cyborg. Terra lagged a bit behind, while Red X, as usual, went at his own pace, barely past the center of the room when the Titans reached the exit door.

"_Something's not right..." _thought the thief as he came to a near-complete stop. _"I can hear something moving in here..."_

The sound of metallic thumping below the floor of the room, the echo emanating and reverberating off the lights mounted in the walls... could it be Sedaris' drill making the noises, or something far more sinister?

"This door is locked," said Robin, turning to Red X and shouting in an annoyed tone. "Get over here, we need you to get this door open!"

Robin could do it himself, of course, but the thief was much faster... and time was of the essence.

"I can get it," said Cyborg, repeatedly ramming his fist into the door but being unable to make it budge. "Then again..."

Red X began walking toward the Titans and the room's exit, still carrying an eerie sense of foreboding about the room that the group was in. The sound was getting louder and louder, and was now primarily coming from the walls of the room, right next to the lights.

"Can you guys hear that?" shouted Red X, pointing toward the walls. "There's something moving in here!"

"I hear it too," said Starfire, taking a brief look around the room and keeping her arms close to her sides. "There is... something... please, hurry and open this door so that we may-"

Suddenly, Starfire let out a shriek. Something was gathering just underneath her, and she floated down to confirm what it was... the Titans themselves already _had _a confirmation. It was water... the room was flooding.

"X, get over here and open the door!" shouted Robin, but the thief had already beaten him to the punch, placing his hand over the door's control panel and sending an electrical burst to its circuits.

"Nothin' doin', they've shut this door off completely and I can't get it working again!"

"Keep trying!" shouted Robin, who could now see that the water had filled the room to the level of his ankles, and was still rapidly pouring in. _"We're in serious trouble..."_

Just above the lights, massive panels had slid open, causing huge amounts of water to flood the room from the outside, filling the entire huge space at the rate of nearly an inch every few seconds. Starfire, Raven, and Beast Boy could float in the air, but if the entire room flooded, it would do them no good, and the panels were grated, letting water enter the room but allowing nothing to escape.

Red X and the Teen Titans were about to drown.

O-O-O

The room had filled up nearly halfway, and while the group of heroes hadn't drowned _yet_, they were struggling to stay afloat, and still struggling to escape before the chamber filled entirely. Watching the whole scene play out, Sedaris let out a small chuckle as he continued to watch the room fill, waiting for the moment when they would be trapped completely, and encased in water, with death following shortly after.

"Sir... you can't fill that room up, the difference in pressure will collapse the entire platform... if you don't stop pouring in water now-"

Sedaris reached over and pressed a small, flashing blue button, triggering the grates built in the bottom of the room to slam shut, and ceasing the rapid flow of water into the chamber.

"I suppose it doesn't matter... Nicholas Jarvin left me one final weapon, and while I may not be able to drown the Titans, I can still assure them a watery grave."

O-O-O

And with yet another cliffhanger, this chapter comes to a close. Only one more chapter to go... can you feel the anticipation? I can, and it's almost too much for me to bear! What will happen to the Teen Titans? What will happen to Sanza? Will Sedaris be able to complete his evil plan? The exciting conclusion awaits!


	21. Dark Calamity

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Teen Titans. If I did, this would be on TV and not here. 

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This doesn't take place in the same storyline as my "Forced Base" and "Fractured Heart" stories, so forget those when you're reading this. Also, about Sanza/Red X: When he's wearing the mask, he's Red X. When he's not, he's Sanza. Simple as that.

SECOND AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a sequel to "The Life and Times of Red X", which is in my profile. Read that before you read this. Also, this fic COMPLETELY IGNORES the events of the fifth season (with the exception of "Go"). For the purposes of this fic, "Things Change" NEVER HAPPENED.

O-O-O

The water stopped flowing into the large room as quickly as it had begun, leaving Red X and the Titans floating in what was essentially an oversized swimming pool.

"Okay... why did the water stop rising?" asked Beast Boy, looking around at his fellow Titans, who appeared just as baffled as he was. "Wasn't Sedaris trying to drown us?"

"This room may not be built to hold that much water... and if the structural integrity of this room fails, the entire platform may collapse." Robin glanced around at the walls of the room, which appeared to be holding up just fine... and he knew that at any moment, the water could continue to flow back in. "Beast Boy, transform and dive under to see what's going on."

Beast Boy nodded, transforming into a shark and descending beneath the surface, floating down to the bottom of the room and checking the panels just above the lights. The panels were now completely closed off, preventing any more water from entering. As Beast Boy investigated the matter further, the rest of the Titans began thinking of a way to escape the room that Sedaris had trapped them all in. Even if they didn't drown, they knew that the city was still running out of time, and if they didn't escape soon, there would be no way to stop him from destroying the city.

"We must find a way out," said Starfire. "As soon as Beast Boy comes back up, I will tell him to look for one... or perhaps I will take a look myself."

Taking a large breath of air, Starfire dove under the surface and began swimming rapidly toward the metallic doors at both ends of the room, one of them leading back the way that the group came, and the other most likely leading to a way further down into the platform. A few seconds after Starfire went under, Beast Boy surfaced, detransformed and shaking his head.

"The doors are still locked tight, but it looks like there's no way for water to get into the room unless Sedaris opens the grates again."

"Which he could do at any time," added Raven, wringing water out of the hood of her cloak.

"Which means that we have to find a way out of-" Red X's words were cut off by the sound of a loud rumbling, originating from just beneath the floor. Large ripples could be seen moving across the surface of the water, and both Terra and Beast Boy let out a gasp, surprised by the quick intensification of the rumbling. Starfire surfaced, her eyes wide with fear.

"Another panel is opening! Beneath the floor, it is very large, and-"

A shadow could now be seen rising from the center of the room, directly beneath several of the Titans, who quickly floated back and away in preparation for whatever was about to surface. The large panel in the room slid quickly shut, while the shadow grew larger and larger, as an enormous mechanical creature ascended upward at a rapid pace.

"Dude, no way..." gasped Beast Boy, watching as a large, gray fin broke the surface of the water, accompanied by a pair of glowing red eyes about twenty feet in front of the fin. "Don't tell me that's a..."

And then, the creature surfaced. Fifty-five feet long, its sleek metallic body crafted into the form of one of the most fearsome creatures in the sea... an enormous, robotic shark, its head rising from the water and staring with its piercing eyes directly at Starfire, who was closest to the shark's massive teeth, floating just a few feet away.

She quickly rose up out of the water just as the shark opened its mouth and lunged at her, bombarding its teeth and nose with nearly a dozen Starbolts. The shark gave a loud roar and dove back under the surface of the water, its fin disappearing as its massive body became a shadow once more. Starfire's eyes widened as she watched the shark rapidly close in on Robin, who was floating with Beast Boy and Cyborg near one of the walls of the room.

"Robin, it is heading straight for you!"

Robin quickly reacted, diving beneath the water and looking straight down at the shark, who had opened its mouth again and was preparing to bite the Boy Wonder in half. He pulled out several small explosive devices, tossing them down into the shark's open mouth and quickly swimming away. The devices detonated prematurely, throwing up a large column of water and creating a lot of bubbles, but nothing else.

Watching from the other side of the room, Raven floated above the surface of the water and began concentrating, using her telekinesis to tug at the mechanical shark's tailfin while Red X and Terra began swimming toward the center of the room.

"Surrounded completely by water and metal," said Red X, looking over at Terra. "I guess you don't have any rocks to throw..."

"Actually, there might be enough salt in this water for me to..." Terra's eyes began to glow, and her arms lifted out of the water, just as the shark turned around and came rushing straight at her.

"Terra, get out of the way!" shouted Raven, readying an enormous energy blast. Terra smiled and shook her head, having formed two white rocks and now levitating them in front of her head, preparing to throw them at the shark's fin.

"I've got this one!" Terra launched the rocks, comprised entirely of sea salt, straight at the robotic shark's fin, watching as they both impacted and crumbled to pieces, doing nothing to stop the shark's furious charge. "Or maybe... I don't..."

The shark rose out of the water, towering over the geomancer and opening its mouth, displaying a set of razor-sharp titanium teeth. As Terra's eyes widened, Red X swam in front of her and blasted a metallic X into the shark's mouth, temporarily clamping open its jaw and allowing Terra to make her escape.

"Better get that blast ready, Rae..."

"I still need you to move," said Raven, gesturing for Red X to get away from the front of the shark so that she could fire all the energy she'd gathered. As soon as the thief moved, Raven released the blast. "Azarath, metreon, zinthos!"

The blast flew from Raven's hands at the same moment that the shark bit through X's metallic clamp and began making its way forward again. Seeing the huge energy ball coming directly for it, the shark dove under the surface of the water just as Raven's blast hit, throwing up a huge explosion that sprayed water all over the room and briefly dunked X and Terra under the surface, their bodies pulled down by the massive tidal force caused by Raven's blast.

"I think that did it!" said Cyborg, pumping his fists and wiping some of the water droplets from his face. "I'll just check my scanners to make sure..."

The shark had disappeared, and in the bubbles and foam now covering the surface of the water, its shadow could not be seen either. Cyborg looked down at the scanner on his arm, still functioning perfectly despite its lengthy exposure to the water.

"Scanner says... the shark is still-"

It burst from the water directly in front of Cyborg, towering over him with its jaws opened wide.

"I don't think so!" shouted Cyborg, pointing his sonic cannon and blasting the shark right in its belly, knocking it briefly backward but doing nothing to stem its appetite for the Titans. It rose out of the water again, and Beast Boy quickly transformed into a hippopotamus to come to Cyborg's rescue.

Hippo Beast Boy rammed his head into the shark's side, drawing its attention and prompting it to bite into Beast Boy's fleshy left side. With a roar of pain, Beast Boy dove under the waves, the shark going with him.

"Hold on, Beast Boy, I'm coming!" shouted Cyborg, diving under and attempting to locate the shark through the haze of bubbles that its tussle with Beast Boy had created. _"It's probably ripping him apart... I've gotta find him!"_

Terra had also seen Beast Boy go under, and was now rapidly swimming toward him along with Starfire and Robin, leaving Red X and Raven as the only ones occupying the back side of the room.

"Beast Boy's in serious trouble," said Raven, flying by Red X and grabbing him out of the water. "We both need to go help him."

Underneath the water, Beast Boy, still transformed into a hippo, was struggling to reach the surface again, groaning in pain every time that the shark rammed into his side. Small amounts of blood could be seen coming from his body, and every time the shark saw the blood, it became more and more aggressive, ramming into Beast Boy harder and faster each time.

"_C'mon... this isn't even a real shark, it's just a cheap robot imitation... you can't let this crappy bucket of bolts beat you!" _

As Beast Boy tried to will himself to fight, the shark continued ramming into him, its eyes glowing a bright red. Beast Boy could now hear his friends swimming toward him, and could see one of Cyborg's sonic cannon blasts piercing through the water. It missed the shark entirely, but all of the shark's attention was still focused on Beast Boy.

"_C'mon, Beast Boy... you can beat him... what would Terra think if she saw you like this?"_

That question was answered for Beast Boy almost immediately when the small blonde girl, her teeth gritted with determination, emerged from the mist and latched onto the shark's dorsal fin as tightly as she could. Though she clearly lacked the strength to rip the metallic shark's fin off, that wasn't about to stop her... she wasn't intending to destroy the shark, merely to divert its attention away from Beast Boy before he became badly hurt.

But the shark was unfazed by Terra's attack, continuing to ram Beast Boy with such force that Terra struggled to keep her grip on the shark's fin, and her legs flopped wildly behind her, her eyes closing as bubbles began passing from her nose.

"_She can't hold her breath that long, I have to do something!" _Channeling all of his strength, Beast Boy transformed into a tiny guppy, completely disappearing from the shark's view and causing it to rise up to the surface of the water once more. Now small enough to be nearly invisible, Beast Boy swam upward, detransforming as he came to the surface and watched the shark leap into the air with Terra still tightly grabbing onto its fin. "Terra, let go!"

Seeing that Beast Boy was safe, Terra took a breath and released the shark's fin, immediately falling back toward the water with a large splash. The shark splashed down at the same instant, and the force of that splash threw Beast Boy and Terra both up into the air.

"Okay, they're safe," said Red X, being held above the water by Raven as the two of them watched Beast Boy and Terra rise to the surface. "Can you put me down now?"

Without a word, Raven dropped the thief back into the water, her eyes carefully scanning the surface for the shark's shadow. Floating just underneath her were Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg, who swam over to Beast Boy and Terra as they landed back in the water.

"Beast Boy, are you okay?" asked Terra, a concerned look on her face. Beast Boy nodded, only to let out a cry of pain and clutch his side. "Beast Boy!"

"That shark, his teeth... kinda got me... it's just a scratch, though," Beast Boy replied, the salt water intensifying the pain of his minor wounds.

"We'll have a lot more than scratches if we don't figure out a way to stop that shark," said Robin, watching as the shark resurfaced on the other side of the room and came floating back toward he and the other Titans.

"We stop that shark the same way we've stopped all those other robots that Sedaris has sent after us... we hit it hard, and we hit it fast!" shouted Cyborg, charging up his sonic energy cannon.

"Cyborg's right, everybody get ready to hit it all at once!" shouted Robin, extending his bo staff and raising it high over his head. "Titans, go!"

Starfire and Raven flew up out of the water, their eyes and hands glowing brightly with energy. Beast Boy transformed into a killer whale, his eyes narrowing as he prepared to ram the shark directly, while Red X readied himself to launch a barrage of exploding Xs. Terra floated up out of the water on top of a salt boulder, her eyes aglow as she began to focus on lifting every single grain of salt from the sea water below.

"Azarath, metreon..." Raven started her chant, focusing an enormous amount of energy as the shark raised up out of the water and came straight down at Cyborg, Robin, Red X, and Beast Boy. All at once, Beast Boy charged forward and Robin repeatedly slammed his bo staff over the shark's nose, while Cyborg and X let loose with cannon blasts and cluster bombs. "ZINTHOS!"

Starfire and Raven's blasts hit the shark at the same time as Terra's salt boulder, the combined explosion of the three impacts mixing with and building upon the energy created by the male Titans' attacks. A large ball of fire rose up, doused instantly by a column of water created by the attacks. Robin and Cyborg found themselves blasted against the front wall of the room, while Beast Boy and Red X were launched backwards, both of them colliding with Terra. Starfire and Raven covered their eyes, feeling the force of the shockwave and the heat of the blasts and hoping that the combined attack had destroyed their robotic nemesis.

They both turned at once toward where the shark had been, now completely gone beneath a pall of bubbles, foam, and smoke. No shadow could be seen yet, and both girls held their breath.

"Robin..." asked Starfire, looking around to see if her friend had surfaced. When she saw his head poking up out of the water, she let out a squeal of delight and floated over to him, wrapping him up in a tight hug. "I believe we are victorious!"

"I'll check the scanner again," said Cyborg, floating nearby and looking down at the readout on his arm. As he did, Beast Boy and Red X surfaced with Terra, the three of them gasping for breath and floating back over toward the center of the room.

"I think... I think we got him..." said Red X, his arms around the shoulders of Beast Boy and Terra as he floated between them. "Thanks to me, of course."

"Dude, what are you talking about?"

"Well, you know you guys wouldn't have stood a chance of beating that thing without me. Remember, I _did _take out two of those robots by myself..."

As Beast Boy opened his mouth to protest, he and the others received the words that they had been waiting to hear.

"Robot's been destroyed," said Cyborg, a wide smile on his face. "We did it, y'all!"

"I could've seen _that_," replied Raven, floating above the water and looking down at the metallic remains of the robot shark as they began to float to the surface. "Now we just have to worry about getting out of here."

The celebration was over before it had even begun... though the immediate threat of the robotic shark had been dealt with, Red X and the Titans still had the small matter of being trapped in an enormous room, half-filled with water, from which there was seemingly no escape.

"I could go back down and try to ram the door again," said Beast Boy. "I'm still a little tired, but-"

"I don't think that door's gonna budge," replied Red X, floating over to the other Titans with Beast Boy and Terra, the group now gathered in the area near the door at the front of the room. "We need to find another way."

"Well, Mr. Thief, how about it?" asked Beast Boy, repeatedly jabbing X's shoulder with his index finger. "You _did _say we couldn't have beaten that shark without you, so-"

"This fighting is pointless and won't solve anything," said Raven. "I can try to use my powers to move the door again... maybe the water's weakened it a little."

"Wait..." said Starfire, thinking back to when she had first swam under the water and had seen the robotic shark emerging from the floor. "There is... another large room, underneath this one. The shark that attacked us came from there... perhaps if I can find a way inside _there_, there may be an exit in that room that we can use."

"But Starfire... how are you going to get into _that _room?" asked Robin. "We couldn't even see the opening before, when this room _wasn't _filled with water. They've probably got it shut a lot tighter than the doors."

"There wouldn't be any need to seal an opening like that," said Red X, "since they'd never expect a person to go through it. It was built for that robot shark... and I can probably trigger it to open like I could any regular door. It'll take time, though..."

"If you try to swim down, you'll just float to the surface," said Terra. "How long does it usually take you to get in a door like that?"

"About ten seconds," said the thief, "but I'll float up in less than that. I need someone strong enough to hold me down there so I can complete the process... someone like-"

Acting almost immediately, Starfire wrapped her arms tightly around Red X's waist from behind, floating high into the air with him and preparing to make a rapid descent.

"Breathe now, please!" shouted Starfire, plummeting toward the water with Red X held tightly in her grasp. The thief barely had time to take a full breath before being plunged into the water, the two of them rapidly diving down nearly thirty feet before finally reaching the enormous, metallic panel in the floor from which Sedaris' robotic shark had emerged.

"_Now I just need to find a spot near the opening..." _thought Red X, his eyes scanning the floor, while Starfire attempted to remember exactly how she'd seen the door open. _"I could really use your help, cutie..."_

The remaining Titans watched intently, seeing little more than small shadows under the surface of the water as Starfire and Red X worked on opening the panel under the floor.

"How long can they hold their breath?" asked Terra, slightly worried.

"I know Starfire can hold her breath for a long time... but Red X I'm not too sure about," Robin replied. "Starfire won't let him drown, though."

The two stayed under for more than half a minute, and Red X fought the urge to take a breath, still looking along with Starfire for the opening of the floor panel.

"_Can't you remember where that thing opened up? Come on, Starfire... don't let me down here..."_

Starfire's eyes widened, and she carried Red X over to an area where a tiny gap could be seen in the metal of the floor. This gap continued along the floor, and Red X put his hand down on the gap and began concentrating, his fingers sending tiny electrical pulses through the panel's circuitry.

"_I have to be careful here, or I'll shock us both..." _thought the thief, his lungs aching from having received no air in more than a minute. _"Ugh... can't let this break my focus..."_

Starfire continued holding Red X down, her fingers gently sliding above his waist to his chest. Small amounts of energy began radiating from her fingers, penetrating his skin and massaging his lungs.

"_What... what's she doing?" _thought Red X, still attempting to maintain his focus on opening the floor panel. _"It doesn't feel like I have to breathe anymore... my lungs are... filling? No, they're not, but they feel like they are..."_

Two minutes went by, with no sign of either Starfire or Red X.

"If he passed out, she would bring him up," said Robin. "They must still be working... or looking... hopefully working."

"_She's _doing something, I can sense her energy," said Raven, looking down into the water to see a faint, green glow. "Is _she _the one opening the panel?"

"If she was doing that, we'd see Red X surface," said Cyborg. "My scanner says that X got into the circuitry... he's trying to open the panel right now."

"That's great!" said Terra, showing a hint of excitement.

"Yeah, _if _he gets it open," said Cyborg, looking down into the water again. "I don't wanna be stuck in this room another minute long-"

A small shadow began rising from the water, right in the center of the group of Titans floating at the surface. A large splash doused them all as a single head emerged, gasping for breath. It was Red X, who immediately took off his mask and continued to gasp, choking up a slight bit of water.

"Are you okay?" asked Terra, floating over to Sanza and placing a hand on his back. Sanza nodded, coughing several more times before beginning to speak.

"I got the panel open, Starfire is down there... she's opening up a valve, she's gonna drain all the water from both rooms."

"Starfire's down there?" shouted Robin. "I know she can hold her breath for a while, but-"

"Wait, I didn't even think Starfire _needed _oxygen... she's from space, right? And she floated through space to get here, so-"

"Starfire's body needs time to acclimate from an oxygenated environment to an airless one," said Raven. "The process takes about half an hour, so while she _can _float up and out to space without suffocating, she'll still drown if she spends too much time underwater, since the change in environments is too sudden. She can still hold her breath for a while, but-"

"She'll be fine," replied Red X, having put his mask back on, now poking his head back under the water. Starfire was nearly fifty feet below the surface, and the thief was unable to catch sight of her. "I'm sure she'll come back up once she manages to drain all the water..."

The room below was much smaller in area, a hangar only big enough to accommodate the robotic shark, about sixty feet wide, twenty feet long, and twenty feet tall. At the bottom of the room was a metallic valve that could be turned several times, each successive turn draining a large portion of water into a chamber below that then drained directly into the ocean. Starfire floated down to the valve and gripped tightly onto two of its handles, making the first large turn and causing the water level in the room above to drop significantly.

The Titans noticed almost immediately, and Beast Boy even let out a cheer, raising both of his arms high into the air as he felt himself and the others float slowly downward.

"Way to go, Starfire!" shouted Beast Boy, though Robin didn't share the changeling's optimism... he knew that Starfire had been underwater now for nearly four minutes.

"_Just hurry... come up if you need air... we've got plenty of time..." _

The water level dropped again, to around two-thirds of its original level.

"It'll take four more turns to clear this room, and then another to clear the room below," said Raven, mentally calculating the time that it would take for Starfire to finish draining all the water. The water level dropped again.

"I'm going to take over," said Robin, starting to dive below the surface before Cyborg reached out and grabbed his arm. "Starfire's been under nearly five minutes, she'll drown if we don't-"

"You can't turn that valve, Robin... if you could, Starfire could've finished turning it already. It's obviously a heavy-duty industrial valve built to be turned by a machine."

"Then why don't you go under and help her?" asked Red X, though his voice contained much less worry than Robin's. "I mean, you _are _a machine, so-"

"Starfire is... she's stronger than I am," said Cyborg, bowing his head, obviously ashamed to admit that his physical strength didn't quite match up to his fellow Titan's. "And my systems need oxygen too, I can't go under for as long as she can."

"...Starfire..." said Robin quietly, just as the water level in the room went down a fourth time. Now, only ten feet of water remained in the room, and the Titans could catch their first glimpse of Starfire, toiling away at the valve in the room below.

"_I must... I must do this so that we may escape and stop Sedaris..." _thought Starfire, straining to rotate the metallic valve a fifth time. Her own lungs ached, and she expelled several bubbles from her nose as she continued turning the valve, having spent more than six minutes without taking a single breath. _"My friends and the city are counting on me..."_

The valve was turned a fifth time, and Cyborg felt his feet touch the floor, while the other Titans, each a few inches taller than five feet, continued to float, occasionally standing on tiptoe on the metallic floor of the room, standing next to the open panel and observing Starfire as she continued to work.

"_I could never do something like that..._" thought Terra, peeking below the surface of the water and watching Starfire execute the valve's sixth rotation. _"Sacrificing myself only took an instant, but she's been at that valve for nearly seven minutes... she must be in agony right now..."_

As the valve turned again, the last of the water drained out of the large chamber above, though a more accurate description would be that the water drained from Starfire's room into the ocean, and from the room above into Starfire's, who was still completely submerged, now turning the valve to clear out her own room.

She had been without air for nearly eight minutes, and she could feel her energy slipping away as she strained with the enormous valve, barely able to push it even an inch before feeling as if her body would give out on her. Every push was now a life-or-death struggle for Starfire, who began to see spots of light floating in front of her, and had to blink several times before resuming.

"I'm going in to help her now," said Robin, preparing to dive down through the open panel. Again Cyborg stopped him, crouching down to dive in himself.

"Now I think I can help her out," replied Cyborg. He began to dive when Starfire looked straight up at him, peering through the water and shaking her head. "Starfire, I'm going down there whether you want me to or not!"

"_Cyborg, I can do this..." _thought Starfire, pushing the valve through three-fourths of its rotation before momentarily blacking out. When she regained consciousness after less than a second, she heard two splashes and saw Robin and Cyborg diving down toward her, followed close after by Raven and Beast Boy. _"My friends... they are... they are coming to assist me..."_

"Beast Boy!" shouted Terra, looking down into the room and instantly deciding to dive in. "I don't know how much I can help him, but-"

"Wait," replied Red X, reaching out and grabbing Terra by the wrist. "If you go down and help her, I'm going to be the only one who stayed up here, and consequently, I'll look like a complete prick."

"...I thought you didn't like playing the hero anyway," replied Terra, with a slight smirk. "You don't _have _to go down there."

"Neither do you," said Red X, "but if you go, I'm gonna go."

"I thought you didn't care what people thought of you."

"I don't care what the _Titans _think of me, no," said Red X, leaping down into the water and swimming toward Starfire.

"Wait, what did you mean by... oh, come on!" Terra immediately followed him, and grabbed onto one of the seven bars jutting out from the valve, while Red X grabbed the other. Together, the seven youths all pushed in the same direction, completing the turn and draining out all the water in the room. As the water level passed below Starfire's head, she let out a loud gasp, collapsing to the floor as soon as the rest of the water drained out and breathing heavily, sweat and seawater trickling down her face.

"Starfire!" Robin was immediately at her side, his arms helping her into a kneeling position, his body supporting her as she leaned onto him. "Starfire, are you..."

She couldn't speak, still gasping and attempting to regain the rest of her air. Every time she tried to say something, she realized that she had to take another breath, and as a result, it took her nearly a full fifteen seconds to form a word.

"Robin..." She took another series of breaths, then began speaking again, each word followed by a long, labored gasp. "I... am... perfectly... fine... but... thank... you... for..."

"Hey," said Red X, diverting all six Titans' attention to a door at the front of the room, marked 'Service Elevator'. "This one opens."

The door slid open, revealing a space just large enough for Red X and the Titans to stand in comfortably. As Beast Boy, Cyborg, Raven, and Terra began walking over to the open elevator, Robin gently helped Starfire to her feet and held her hands in his own, looking right into her eyes.

"I was... I was really worried," said Robin. "I'm glad you're okay."

"You know that I can hold my breath for a great deal longer than most people on your planet," replied Starfire, her lips curving into a smile. "You had no reason to..."

But Robin did have a reason to worry, and Starfire knew exactly what that reason was. He loved her deeply, and the thought of losing her _always _worried him, though he did his best to conceal it on the outside. With an understanding nod, Starfire kissed Robin quickly on the lips before joining the rest of her friends inside the service elevator. Robin followed her, and as he climbed in, the door shut behind them.

"Next stop... Sedaris," said Red X, as the elevator slowly began its descent to the bottom of the refinery. _"I'm going to make sure that you're never allowed to carry out your terrible plan..."_

O-O-O

Sedaris stood in a small room, overseeing a long control panel flanked by half a dozen large screens, each of them displaying statistics about the drill's progress into the earth. His arms behind his back, he observed the screens intently, knowing that the moment he'd been waiting for was very soon to arrive.

"Soon, the fault will activate... soon, the worst disaster in the history of humanity will strike, and I'll have a front row seat to view all the carnage."

The scenes were rigged to switch over to live news footage as soon as the quake was activated, so that Sedaris could watch all the mayhem that he'd caused from the safety of his well-anchored refinery. The quake would be triggered in less than an hour.

"Sir!" The door to the room opened, and in rushed the same short, bespectacled young man who had warned Sedaris about the Titans before. Sedaris turned to him and smiled, anticipating news of the Titans' deaths. "Sir, Pisces Epsilon has-"

"Completely eradicated the Titans," Sedaris said with a smile. The messenger shook his head, and Sedaris' eyes went wide with shock. "WHAT!"

"Activity was detected in Pisces Epsilon's loading chamber... a valve was released, only the Titans could have released that valve. Sir, the Titans survived... and they're on the service elevator. They'll be coming here-"

"NO!" shouted Sedaris, smacking the messenger across the face hard enough to knock him to the floor. "Do _not _let the Titans down here, do you understand?"

Sedaris' worry was completely foreign to the messenger, whom had before only seen his boss radiate a calm confidence, arrogance in his every word. Now, Sedaris was completely on tilt, almost as if he was... afraid of the Teen Titans.

"I... I'll tell the rest of the guards," said the messenger, picking himself up from the floor and backing toward the front of the room.

"You tell them all... I do not want the Titans anywhere near this room!"

With a nervous nod, the messenger fled from the room and went to round up the other guards, leaving Sedaris alone with his console... and with his worry. He had never anticipated actually having to engage all of the Titans... but now it seemed that he was about to be left with no choice.

"_It matters not... I still have a back-up plan," _thought Sedaris, leaving his screens behind as he exited the room and stepped out into another, much larger room... a staging area, where a massive shadow loomed over Sedaris as soon as he entered. "I refuse to fail."

O-O-O

The service elevator descended to the very bottom of the refinery, giving the Titans and Red X plenty of time to think about the struggle that lay ahead of them. Sedaris would be no pushover, and he likely had a legion of guards to back him up. To make matters worse, the Titans had a very limited amount of time to stop him... should they fail, millions of people would lose their lives.

"Not to put on the pressure or anything, but... you understand that it's not just the city in trouble here," said Red X calmly. "If we lose-"

"We're not going to lose," said Robin, as determined as he always was, with the same attitude going into this mission as he would have going into any of the Titans' battles... whether they were fighting Sedaris or Cinderblock, Slade or Mumbo. Every villain was the same, and the Titans would never stop until they brought that villain down. "So don't even think about what might happen... because it won't."

"Hey, I'm just saying," said the thief, leaning against the wall of the elevator. "Trying to make conversation, y'know."

"I don't know how useful I'm gonna be..." said Terra, in a whisper just loud enough for Beast Boy and Red X to hear. "I can't cause any earthquakes because I might bring the whole refinery down... and if I bring in any rocks, water will come in..."

"I'm sure you can find some way to get a rock or two in here," said Beast Boy, confidently patting Terra on the shoulder. "I'm confident you can do it!"

"And what's the worst that could happen? You try to bring in a rock, the place crumples up and we all drown. At least we go down fighting, huh?"

"You're not helping," said Terra, glaring at Red X, who could clearly see the nervousness in her eyes. "I'm being totally serious here..."

"Don't worry about it," replied the thief, reaching over and gripping Terra's hand in his. "You shouldn't listen to me anyway, listen to Beast Boy, he's probably right."

Terra slowly pulled her hand away from Red X's, bringing it to the level of her heart and feeling the quick pace at which it was beating. She let out a sigh and leaned her head against the wall, staring up at the ceiling and saying a silent prayer, hoping desperately to be able to help her friends.

"I believe in you, Terra," said Beast Boy, reaching over and giving her a light hug. She smiled, but only for a second... her mind attempting to focus on the task at hand.

"_Everyone believes in me... that's what has me so worried. Unless I believe in myself, I don't know if I'll be able to do this..."_

She glanced over at Red X, trying to remember all of the conversations that they had had over the past few days... every time she spoke to him, she felt such confidence afterwards... and even his remark aboard the elevator didn't shake her like it would if it had come from Beast Boy. Something about the thief and what he had said made Terra believe in herself, built up her confidence and gave her courage, something that even Beast Boy wasn't quite able to do.

Unlike Beast Boy, Red X had been to many of the places that Terra had been before... had spent time on both sides of the law, had struggled with his confidence and had dealt with Slade... the only other person that Terra knew who was anything like Red X was Robin, but... something about Red X made Terra a lot more comfortable around him than around Robin.

"_He's one of the least judgmental people I know..." _thought Terra, still looking over at Red X, whose attention was focused on the elevator door. _"And if it had been him in that hall of mirrors instead of Beast Boy... he would've understood... he would've helped me take down Slade, right there... and together, I think we would've beaten him..."_

The elevator door opened, interrupting Terra's thoughts and focusing her attention to the hallway outside... where dozens of Sedaris' men were waiting.

"Titans, go!" shouted Robin, extending his bo staff and charging straight into the crowd. The other Titans followed him, each attacking with an equal amount of vigor. Terra and Red X were the last two to emerge, and unlike Terra, the thief leapt right into the fray, sending a myriad of X-shaped weapons straight at Sedaris' men, repelling their attacks and sending them flying.

Terra watched the fight for several seconds, wondering what to do next. Then, she decided. She clenched her fists and ran into the ground, ducking under a punch and slamming her elbow into the gut of the first guard she encountered, felling him instantly. With a smile, she leapt into the air and kicked two men at once, then brought her heel down on the head of another guard, knocking him out.

Though exhausted from their encounters with the guards on the platform, and from their underwater battle with Pisces Epsilon, the Titans were more than a match for the men they encountered in the hallway, and quickly cleared a path into the next room, where only a few more guards, along with Sedaris' messenger, were waiting.

Upon seeing the speed at which Red X and the Titans took care of the remainder of Sedaris' guards, the messenger let out a horrified yell and began to flee from the room, only to be caught from behind by Robin's bo staff, which smacked hard against the back of his head and knocked him to the ground. As he let out a groan of pain, he could feel himself being lifted up from the ground by his hair and yanked to his feet by Robin, who turned him around, grabbed him by his shirt collar, and slammed him hard against the wall of the room, to the left of a red door marked 'Mess Hall'.

"Where's Sedaris?" shouted Robin, his teeth clenched tightly. "Don't make me ask you twice, WHERE IS HE?"

Remembering Sedaris' warnings not to let the Titans get to him, the messenger hesitated, causing Robin to slam him up against the wall again.

"There's seven of us, all with superpowers or weapons that make us a great deal more powerful than you. You have absolutely no chance of fighting us, the only way you're leaving this room unharmed is if you tell me where Sedaris is!"

The man trembled and pointed his finger at the mess hall door, struggling to speak.

"Go... through the mess hall... there's two rooms, one to the right leading to some offices, and the other one, straight through... that's a storage room, just keep going through rooms and you're bound to reach him... that's all I know! Please, let me go!"

Robin tossed the man to the floor and pressed a button on the panel next to the mess hall entrance, causing it to slide open.

"Let's go," said Robin, gesturing for the Titans to follow him into the mess hall.

"What about that guy?" asked Red X, pointing at the messenger, who was trembling on the floor. "We gonna take him to jail?"

"No," said Robin. "We've got too many people to save..."

"Besides, we're on an oil platform," said Cyborg, following Robin into the mess hall, "and Sedaris probably holds the keys for all the boats and planes back to the mainland. It's not like he's going anywhere."

"Fair enough," said the thief, shrugging his shoulders and going with the remaining Titans into the mess hall. They passed a door on the right wall and walked past several rows of tables to another door at the end of the room. After passing through that door, they emerged into another room... a room that bore a bright blue glow, a glow that permeated every inch of space and caused the room to give off a slightly creepy vibe. "This... this room's different."

The Titans now found themselves staring out over dozens of capsules filled with clear liquid... liquid that appeared identical to the liquid found in the quantum computer they'd recently taken.

"Those can't be what I think they are," said Raven, staring out at all of the capsules in absolute disbelief. "If those are... but... how is that possible?"

"You mean quantum computers?" asked Cyborg, raising his arm and preparing to run a scan of the room. "Let's just see here-"

As soon as Cyborg pressed the 'scan' button, a large burst of sparks shot out from his arm, and he was tossed backward into the wall, letting out a loud cry.

"Cyborg!" shouted Robin, rushing along with Beast Boy to his friend's aid. "What happened?"

"My scanners... they're completely overloaded," said Cyborg, shaking his head in astonishment. "There's so much processing power in here, it's... it's amazing..."

"Enough processing power to control the planet itself," said Raven, raising her hand to her lips. "And the second that Sedaris' drill touches the fault..."

"It'll be like he's just logged on to w w w dot let's play God dot com," said Red X, pointing his palms at the rows and rows of quantum computers. "And I'm _not _letting that happen."

The thief launched an exploding X at each one of the filled capsules, shrouding the room in smoke. The force of the blast knocked all of the Titans back, and it seemed that Sedaris' plans had gone completely up in smoke.

"Without these computers, Sedaris will not be able to control the fault," said Starfire, "and he cannot make any earthquakes! The city is-"

"Not safe," said Raven, peering through the smoke to see all of the computers completely intact. Bright beams of red light could be seen passing across them, forming a mesh of energy that completely protected the precious cargo lying underneath. "Sedaris set up a force-field... we can't touch them."

"Then we'll just have to touch him!" shouted Beast Boy, immediately receiving a glare from everyone else in the room. "...that really didn't come out right, did it?"

"No," said Red X, "but no time to worry about it now."

The thief pressed a button on the panel next to a door to the right of the computer observation area, opening a path to the next room. When he and the Titans saw who was standing there waiting for them, all of them rushed inside, causing the door behind them to quickly close and lock shut.

"I see that you've come for me," said Sedaris, facing down Red X and the Titans across a small square room, its perimeter barely more than a hundred feet. "I'm not letting you stop this."

"And we're not letting you start it!" shouted Robin, holding his bo staff out in front of his body. Starfire, Raven, and Cyborg stood behind him on his right, while Beast Boy, Terra, and Red X flanked him to his left. Sedaris was greatly outnumbered, and he knew it... his voice was not nearly as confident as it was when he'd been dealing with only one of the Titans.

"If you think you're getting through me, you're fooling yourselves. I've beaten you before, and I will beat you again."

"Wrong, Sedaris... you have beaten some of us before, one at a time," said Starfire, her eyes glowing brightly. "You were able to defeat Red X and I because you isolated us from the others and ambushed us, giving you an advantage. You were able to capture Raven and Terra because your men outnumbered them two hundred to one, and every single time that you have been given the chance to fight all of us, you have fled."

"We're not afraid of you," said Raven, "and working together, we'll defeat you."

"We'll see about that!"

Sedaris charged forward at Robin, ducking under a bo staff swing and slamming his fist hard into Robin's face. As the Boy Wonder fell back, Raven and Starfire immediately set upon Sedaris, hitting him with simultaneous energy blasts that threw him backward, over the heads of Cyborg, Red X, Beast Boy, and Terra and into a wall at the back of the room.

"Don't let up!" shouted Robin, quickly climbing to his feet as Sedaris charged forward at the Titans again. "Not even for a second!"

Sedaris launched a swooping kick which Cyborg blocked by catching it in mid-swing, holding Sedaris' leg just as Beast Boy transformed into a tiger and leaped high into the air. As he came down to swipe his claws, Sedaris grabbed the huge green tiger and threw him backward, then kicked Cyborg away and charged at Terra.

"I'm more than capable of fighting all of you at once!" Sedaris rained blow after blow upon Terra, who managed to dodge several punches and kicks before Sedaris' leg caught her across the chest, and she was thrown backward into Beast Boy and the wall. Sedaris then turned to meet Red X, who was attacking Sedaris with his wrist blades, swinging them repeatedly and managing to make a small slash across the front of Sedaris' white tanktop and black leather jacket before being grabbed by the neck and flung halfway across the room.

"You forgot about us," said Raven, standing next to Starfire behind Sedaris, her voice making him turn around. "Azarath, metreon, ZINTHOS!"

The two girls fired another combined blast at Sedaris, who raised his hands to block it, allowing the large energy cluster to detonate in front of his body. The explosion briefly blinded both girls, allowing Sedaris to run past and clothesline both of them to the ground. He continued running, right into the path of one of Robin's bo staff swings. The staff hit him across the bridge of the nose, stunning him temporarily, but doing little in the way of physical damage.

"Look around you," said Sedaris, gesturing toward Robin's friends, who had all been knocked to the ground. "As you can see, I don't have anything to fear from the Teen Titans, or anyone else for that matter!"

Sedaris threw a punch at Robin's face, a punch that Robin blocked with his left forearm, his teeth gritting as Sedaris' fist made impact.

"All of them will get up," said Robin. "No matter how many times you knock them down, they're going to keep on fighting..."

Sure enough, when Sedaris looked around again, Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy, Cyborg, Terra, and Red X had all climbed to their feet, and were ready to resume the battle. Sedaris simply smiled and threw another punch, which Robin again blocked, this time with his right forearm.

"You overestimate how many times a person can be knocked down before they don't get up again... ever. One by one, I'll decimate all of you."

"Then why don't we look anywhere near like we're about to be decimated?" taunted Red X, causing Sedaris to glance his way. "Think about it. Even when you were fighting me by myself, I kept getting up, no matter how hard you knocked me down. I kept fighting... now I'm with the Teen Titans. You can't beat _all _of us, Sedaris..."

"Shut up!" Sedaris' emotions were once again starting to come to the surface, and as he turned to charge Red X, he saw with dismay that he now had Beast Boy and Terra standing in front of him.

"You've gotta get through us first," said Beast Boy. "Red X might be a thief, but right now we're on the same team, and there's no way we're gonna let you mess with him..."

"Not without a fight," said Terra, narrowing her eyes and launching herself forward at Sedaris, aiming another kick at the side of his head. Sedaris grabbed Terra's leg and tossed her into the wall, causing her to let out a scream and close her eyes, her body going completely limp.

"Weak little girl... without your rocks, you're nothing."

"But you forgot about me... and I _won't _let you get away with hurting Terra!" shouted Beast Boy, transforming into a gorilla and slamming his two fists down upon Sedaris. Sedaris raised up his arms to block, but Beast Boy was far too angry to be stopped, and he slammed his fists down again, this time succeeding in knocking his opponent to the ground. He leapt into the air and attempted to belly-flop onto Sedaris, only to have him roll out of the way at the last moment, causing Beast Boy to land face first on the ground, detransforming in a painful daze.

Again Starfire and Raven came at Sedaris, with Starfire firing her Starbolts, and Raven using her telekinesis to rip chunks of metal out of the ceiling and send them flying at different parts of Sedaris' body.

"I've had it with both of you girls..." Narrowing his eyes, Sedaris rolled out of the way and slammed his elbow hard into the back of Starfire's head. She fell down, but stopped herself with her hands and looked back at Sedaris, sweeping her leg under his feet and knocking him to the ground. _"Dammit... every time I dodge one attack, I have to deal with another... but I only have to fight them for a while... I have the advantage, they're on the clock..."_

Sedaris rolled back toward the center of the room, looking around to see Raven, Cyborg, Robin, Starfire, and Red X slowly walking toward him.

"Unnnggh..." groaned Terra, rubbing the back of her head as Beast Boy walked over to help her up. "It's okay, Beast Boy... go deal with Sedaris, I... I'll be fine..."

"Terra..." Beast Boy gently picked her up from the ground, checking the back of her head to make sure she wasn't bleeding. "Are you okay?"

"Give it up, Sedaris..."

"You just don't get it, do you, Robin? None of you get it... I'm the same as all of you. I'm not giving up either, not until I get what I want..."

"What you want is the deaths of millions of people! What you want is the worst disaster in the history of the world!" Red X clenched his fists, showing an unusual amount of emotion. "You're nothing but a psychopath... a psychopath who enjoys seeing people suffer..."

"Maybe I am a psychopath... but I still have my needs and my desires, and none of you are going to stop me from fulfilling either of them."

Sedaris charged forward again, straight at Red X, who leapt into the air and fired a grappling cable downward at each of Sedaris' arms. Sedaris grabbed both cables and pulled Red X in toward him, about to headbutt him when he was tackled from behind by Starfire, sending all three of them to the ground.

"Beast Boy, it's not that I'm nervous, or scared... it's just... I can't use my powers in here, there aren't any rocks, and if I cause an earthquake-"

"If you don't want to fight him, you don't have to, Terra... it's your choice..."

"Choice has nothing to do with it, Beast Boy! I can't!"

The conversation was interrupted suddenly, when Robin and Cyborg flew past Beast Boy and Terra and slammed hard into the wall, both of them having been tossed away by Sedaris, who now had his foot on Starfire's stomach and was stomping her repeatedly.

"Leave her alone!" shouted Beast Boy, transforming into a rhinoceros and charging across the room at Sedaris. Sedaris turned and leapt into the air, grabbing Beast Boy by the horn and using it to vault himself completely over rhino Beast Boy's back. Beast Boy detransformed just before hitting the wall, smacking hard against it and falling to the ground. "Ungh... shoulda tried being a little quieter on the approach..."

"And again, all of you find yourselves on the floor, while I'm still standing tall," said Sedaris, not noticing that Red X was standing to his right, and Raven was standing to his left.

"You forgot about us," said Raven.

"And it's _never _a good idea to forget about Red X."

The thief launched an X at Sedaris' head, just as Raven began to focus another attack, chanting her familiar mantra.

"Azarath, metreon..."

Sedaris ducked to the ground, watching with glee as the X sailed past his head and continued on toward Raven, sticking tightly to her mouth and cutting her off in mid-chant. Her built-up energy could no longer be contained, and detonated right in front of her, engulfing her in an explosion and knocking her to the ground.

"Not good..." said Red X to himself, just as Sedaris lunged forward and slammed a fist right into his stomach. "AAAAAAGH!"

The thief doubled over, and Sedaris bent down and grabbed him by the neck, holding him high up in the air.

"If I break your neck, you _won't _get up," said Sedaris, a sick smile appearing on his face. "And then I can forget about you... forever."

Red X began struggling furiously, futilely kicking at Sedaris' chest. He could feel his assailant's powerful fingers crushing his throat in a powerful death grip, and began to realize that even _if _the Titans won the battle, it would be far too late to save him.

"_Careless for one second... I can't believe it... mom, sis, I-"_

A scalding hot stream of black liquid burst through the front door of the room, slamming into Sedaris and knocking him backward, causing him to lose his grip on Red X as he was thrown violently into the door at the back of the room. He let out a scream and ripped off his searing tanktop, throwing it to the ground and into a puddle of the liquid that burned him... a liquid that appeared to be... oil?

"I just remembered what kind of rocks there are inside oil platforms," said Terra, stepping in front of Sedaris and smiling. "Dinosaur bones millions of years old, crushed by friction into coal, natural gas... and oil. It's part of the ground, I can control it... who's the weak little girl now?"

"Bitch..." said Sedaris quietly, looking up to see that Terra was now flanked by the other five Titans... and Red X, still coughing slightly and clutching his throat. _"I've stalled enough... time for me to show them true pain..." _

Sedaris weakly reached up behind him, rising to his feet and pressing a button on the panel that caused the door to the next room to slide open. He quickly backed inside and re-sealed the door, just before the Titans began pounding against it, attempting to stop Sedaris' escape.

"Dammit, I'm not letting him get away!" shouted Robin. Already, Red X had approached the panel by the door and had placed his hand over it, hacking into its internal circuitry. "X, how long will it take you-"

"It's going to open, so get ready," said Red X. As he worked on getting the door open, Starfire looked up at the sign above, which read 'Staging Area' in red letters over a black, metallic plate.

"Staging area... I was not aware that oil refineries had theaters..."

"It's a factory, Starfire," said Raven. "It's where they maintenance the drills, build spare parts..."

"All right, the door's opening now," said Red X, stepping away from the panel just as the door slid open, allowing the Titans access to the staging area. _"Nowhere to run now, Sedaris..."_

The room was massive, much larger than the previous room, an enormous area with cranes hanging from the ceiling and conveyor belts criss-crossing the room at several levels. At the end of the room, the Titans could make out a silhouette, not entirely human in form, and only slightly larger than a normal human. They immediately went over to investigate, and as they approached, the object they were facing soon became clear.

Red X and the Titans were facing down a ten-foot tall armored battle suit, its chrome and titanium body painted a light, purplish-pink hue, with two large metallic wings emerging from its back, giving it an almost angelic appearance. Through a clear window in the front of the robot, Sedaris' head and torso could be clearly seen, his arms and legs obviously encased within the arms and legs of the battle suit.

"I'd like to introduce you to the greatest combat weapon known to man, a combined venture of Infinity and LaredoSoft, with assistance from the late, great Dr. Ruell... the Trinity Omega!"

"The letters of the Greek alphabet that you skipped over must be crushed," said Red X, as sarcastically as he could. "Are you sure you don't want to call that thing the Trinity Zeta?"

"In a few minutes, the only thing we'll be calling it is scrap," said Robin, preparing his team for one final battle. "TITANS, GO!"

The Titans fearlessly charged forward, while small, white lights began appearing on the tips of Trinity Omega's wings. Before any of the Titans could launch an attack, several small lasers emerged from each of the wings, slamming into the ground in front of the group and throwing up a huge wall of white fire, knocking them all to the ground.

"So... directly attacking it is out then," groaned Red X, slowly climbing to his feet and looking up to see the lasers on the wings charging up again. _"You gotta be kidding me..."_

Another storm of lasers slammed into the Titans and Red X right as they began to stand, with Raven barely able to raise a shield in front of herself in time. The others were again bathed in white fire and thrown into the air, landing hard on their backs or their sides a fair distance away from Trinity Omega.

"I planned for this the whole time," said Sedaris, smiling proudly. "The fight in the other room was merely a stalling tactic, but this time I'm going all out... the earthquake will probably trigger just as I'm finishing all of you off."

Raven floated into the air, facing down Sedaris at eye level while pointing both of her palms at the chest of his battle mech.

"I don't know what's worse, a coward who harms a person's friends to attack them emotionally, or a coward who runs away and hides in a big robot whenever he starts losing. Unfortunately for you, you happen to be _both _of those cowards." Raven began gathering energy for an attack, only to have the mech's fist slam into her body, knocking her away toward her other fallen friends.

"You have cowardice confused with brilliance," said Sedaris, his mech charging forward toward the Titans and X as they attempted to stand. "I believe the _real _cowards are all of you... ganging up on me, a seven to one advantage... that's so pathetic."

Robin stood up first, shooting his Birdcable at Trinity Omega's legs. The mech deftly leaped over Robin's cable, coming down between him and Raven and firing small missiles out of its palms, directed at them both. Raven blocked the missiles with a shield, while Starfire blew the missiles up with Starbolts before they could reach Robin. The missiles were soon replaced with laser beams, which pierced through Raven's shield and Starfire's energy bolts to hit them both, as well as Robin. The beams exploded on impact, engulfing the three Titans in light and causing all three of them to let out painful cries.

"_Time to grease this rusty robot up," _thought Terra, raising her arms and causing oil to fly into the room, surrounding her body and forming a spherical barrier. She then sent it toward Trinity Omega, rearranging the molecules of the oil into a much harder material... a large, white bone, shaped like a razor-sharp sword. "You're about to be impaled!"

The mech turned toward Terra, catching the bone sword and snapping it in two over its knee.

"I wonder how hard it'll be to snap your bones for real," said Sedaris, triggering the mech to launch a punch at Terra's face. "Let's find out."

The punch was quickly blocked by a large metallic X that had formed in front of Terra's body. The X dented, but did not break, stopping the punch and saving Terra from a powerful impact. The thief himself was standing behind Trinity Omega, and launched a barrage of exploding Xs before the mech could turn around, creating a large explosion but doing little damage.

"I'm not even going to justify that pathetic attack by turning around," said Sedaris, keeping his attention focused on Terra, who was backed up against a conveyor belt. "I'll break Little Miss Black Gold in half, then I'll concentrate on you."

"I can defend _myself_!" shouted Terra, causing a large wave of scalding oil to crash over Trinity Omega. Sedaris chuckled.

"You ruined my paint job," said Sedaris, raising the mech's fists over Terra's head. "Good for you... no more games."

A green t-rex slammed its head into Trinity Omega's side, and for the first time, Sedaris' mech had been moved by an attack, flying dozens of feet and landing hard on its side, skidding across the room as quickly as Beast Boy was giving chase. With a loud roar, the t-rex snapped its teeth repeatedly at the fallen battle mech, who kept him back with lasers and missile fire as it tried to stand.

"Well, _that _was embarrassing..." said Red X to himself, looking over at Beast Boy and Sedaris' mech before returning his gaze to Terra.

"I don't think Beast Boy can keep him down much longer," said Terra, pointing toward the back of the room. "C'mon, we need to go help him!"

Terra ran over to assist Beast Boy, and Red X began to give chase... before noticing a metallic door on the right side of the room. A sign posted over it read 'Control Station', which automatically caused alarm bells to go off in the thief's head.

"_That's gotta be the room where..."_

T-Rex Beast Boy let out a roar of anguish as yet another missile slammed into his side, toppling him to the ground. Trinity Omega stood over him, having stood up and conquered the much more imposing dinosaur.

"The Cretaceous ended sixty-five million years ago," said Sedaris, as the lasers on Trinity Omega's wings began charging once again. "My time is now."

"Your time is up!" shouted Cyborg, diving on the battle mech with all of his strength and taking it to the ground, repeatedly slamming his fists into the window in front of Sedaris. "I'm gonna get you out of there if it-"

The lasers on the wings activated, all of them slamming into Cyborg at once and knocking him backward, engulfing him in an enormous pillar of fire. Beast Boy detransformed, watching in shock as his friend was completely consumed by the flames.

"If it kills you? I think it just did," said Sedaris, as the Trinity Omega once again picked itself up from the ground. "Too bad you didn't get me out, though."

Out of the corner of his eye, Sedaris could see Red X, standing by the door that led directly to the control station.

"_Dammit... I can't let him get in there!"_

Trinity Omega's right palm went up, just as the door to the control station slid open, having been hacked into by the master thief. Several missiles flew out of the mech's hand, and Red X could clearly see them coming his way. He dove into the control room just as the missiles impacted above him, throwing up a huge cloud of smoke and debris that completely shrouded the room's entrance.

"What just happened?" shouted Robin, looking over at the debris cloud at the same time as Starfire and Raven. "Was that the control room?"

The smoke cleared, revealing that the entrance was now completely sealed off, blocked by a huge pile of metallic rubble. Red X was sealed inside, and for the Titans, there was no way in to help him... at least no way in before they took care of Trinity Omega.

"It doesn't matter... you don't think I'd just let someone waltz in there and stop the process, do you?" shouted Sedaris, his massive mech now walking across the room toward Robin, Starfire, and Raven. "He'll never be able to stop it, even with all his hacking skills... the sequence is locked in, preprogrammed to trigger an earthquake the moment this platform's drill hits the San Andreas Fault! And as for the rest of you... you're trapped with me... you're all going to die!"

O-O-O

Red X had landed flat on his face, coughing on the dust and smoke that now filled the room. Behind him, an immense pile of rubble prevented his exit... in front of him, a massive, complex control station, and six monitors above. The thief stood up and surveyed the console, immediately realizing that he'd accomplished what he'd come to do.

"I'm here... now I can stop the earthquake!" But as soon as Red X pressed a button, an error message displayed on the screen: 'System Locked. Unable to access commands until sequence terminates.'

He placed his hand on the console, attempting to hack into the computer... an identical message appeared. Sedaris had placed a firewall on the system. Red X wasn't going to get in, no matter what he did.

"_Dammit... this is going to be a lot more work and a lot less fun than I thought."_

O-O-O

Beast Boy and Terra crouched down beside Cyborg, who lay unconscious at the back of the staging area, small wisps of smoke still rising from his body.

"He... he risked his life to help me..." said Beast Boy, trying to wake his fallen friend up. "I mean, that's what friends do, but... I just hope he's all right..."

"I should've gotten there sooner, Beast Boy... I was going to help, but then Cyborg... he just came out of nowhere, and all I could do was watch... I'm so sorry..."

"Terra, if you'd have been there you would've been blasted away just like Cyborg was... maybe even worse," said Beast Boy, turning toward Terra and placing a hand on her shoulder. "That blast was strong enough to take out anybody... right now we just need to make sure Cyborg doesn't get hurt. I'll stay here and watch him, you go help the others."

"...me? But Beast Boy-"

"Terra, that oil thing you did earlier... that was awesome, I told you you'd find some rocks in here to use! I just uh... I didn't think oil counted as a rock. But anyway, you help out the others... I'll join you guys as soon as Cyborg wakes up."

With a bit of reluctance, Terra nodded and rushed over to join the others. As she approached Trinity Omega, she could feel her nervousness beginning to slip away... and felt a great comfort, something that she only previously received from talking to Red X. It was the same feeling that Terra used to get while she was talking to Beast Boy... right after the first time the two of them had met. After running away the first time, she never got that feeling from talking to Beast Boy again... until just now.

"_Beast Boy is right... I can't spend all my time worrying about the past... about not being able to do anything... as much as the past hurts, I have to forget about it and I have to fight! My friends are counting on me!"_

Trinity Omega's wings began to light up, and Robin, Starfire, and Raven began to prepare for another laser barrage. Raven raised a shield over the three of them, while Robin and Starfire crouched down, holding each other's hand.

"Starfire," whispered Robin, "as soon as the lasers hit, we attack, got it?"

Starfire nodded in affirmation, and the lasers finished charging. A brilliant light appeared at the tips of the mech's wings, only to be snuffed out immediately, replaced by an enormous, fiery explosion. Sedaris' scream could be heard as fire engulfed the entire top half of Trinity Omega, which stumbled back, its lasers having malfunctioned severely.

"What... what just happened?" said Raven, lowering her shield and watching as Trinity Omega's wings, once proud and formidable, fell to the ground as fiery cinders, smoldering on the metallic floor and leaving Sedaris' battle mech without its most imposing feature.

"The wings... they... they exploded!"

At the last moment, just before the lasers had fired, Terra had coated the mech's wings with a thick layer of oil. The oil ignited on contact with the white-hot beams, triggering an explosion that even the well-built battle mech was unable to endure. Its wings now clipped, the robot staggered forward with its fists clenched and an enraged Sedaris staring through the window at Terra, Robin, Starfire, and Raven.

"You think you've won? I don't need the wings to destroy all of you... Trinity Omega is still the most powerful weapon in existence!"

Terra stepped back to rejoin her three Titan companions, her hands on her hips as she looked behind Sedaris' mech, at the smoldering remnants of its titanium wings.

"If you don't need them, then why do you look so nervous?" said Terra.

"Nervous? I'll show you nervous..."

A panel built into Trinity Omega's chest slid open, revealing several large holes, each of them equipped with a powerful rocket built to destroy everything within a fifty-foot radius. The Titans stepped back, readying themselves for what could be a very deadly barrage.

"Nervous is what you should be, because I'm about to end this, right now!"

From each of the eight holes emerged a rocket, each of them aimed straight at the four Titans. Raven raised a shield as the first of the rockets came in, gasping in horror as the explosion shattered her energy barrier and threw her back against the door of the room with enough force to knock her unconscious. The remainder of the rockets now flew toward Robin, Starfire, and Terra, who steeled themselves for what could be their last stand.

"_We're not going down like this..." _said Robin, clenching his fists. He glanced over at Starfire, who stood ready to shoot down the rockets, her eyes and palms aglow. Terra was a bit more shaky, her confidence beginning to ebb away as she realized that oil wasn't going to help her take down seven powerful rockets.

"_Beast Boy, Cyborg... we need you guys..."_

Beast Boy continued to kneel beside his friend, who showed no signs of waking up any time soon. He looked over and saw Raven, unconscious and slumped against the door... and Terra, along with Robin and Starfire, standing right in the path of seven very deadly rockets. His eyes grew wide, and he let out a scream.

"ROBIN! STARFIRE! TERRA!"

O-O-O

"C'mon, X... you've hacked into systems _way _tougher than this. This is a cakewalk... there's nothing special about this stupid console..."

Red X's mind raced as he tried to figure out a way to stop the computer sequence that was set to trigger an earthquake as soon as the drill touched the fault line... a moment which a timer displayed on one of the screens now indicated was a little more than five minutes away.

He had considered smashing the console, but knew that the sequence wasn't programmed into it, but into the quantum computers in the other room... and those were impossible to smash. He would have to find another way into the system, but every time he tried, he received the same error message.

"Unable to access commands. Unable to access commands. Dammit, computer, I'm about to access your ass with my foot..." The normally-cool thief's frustration was beginning to show, and he sat down against the console, his head slumping as he began to feel once again the familiar sting of defeat. _"I couldn't beat Slade... couldn't save mom and sis... all I know how to do is steal, and I haven't even been doing _that _very well lately. I took the quantum computer prototype, but that was _with _the Teen Titans' help."_

The thief let out a sigh, blinking as a voice from the computer announced that five minutes remained until the drill touched the fault.

"_God... if You can hear me... of course You can hear me. You're God. And You obviously know that I need help, but... apparently You must need a hundred million new souls up there in heaven, because You're sure as hell not listening to me."_

The thief rose to his feet and turned back toward the computer console, thinking of all the people that would die if he wasn't able to stop the earthquake... Rob, and Marcy, and Cleo... who, even though she hated him, was still someone who X cared very deeply about.

"_And mom... and Maddy..."_

The thief lifted his mask for a moment, briefly wiping a tear from his face... the thought of their last moments, terrified as the city sunk into the sea, or crushed beneath their ruined apartment building... it was horrific to think about, and it was a thought that spurned Red X into action.

"I'm not giving up..." said the thief, staring down at the console.

"Four minutes to go. Four minutes until earthquake sequence is triggered."

"No, it's not..." said Red X, placing his hands on the top of the console and staring up at the screens. "You can give me all the error messages you want, but there's no way in hell I'm letting this earthquake happen..."

The thief could feel electricity moving from his palms into the console, and all six screens lit up with error messages, attempting to tell Red X that his actions were futile, that the system was locked... but he didn't care. He continued attempting to hack into the system, not even wincing as he felt the first shocks, the passage of electricity between himself and the console growing stronger and stronger. He gritted his teeth, focusing even more of the suit's energy into the system.

"Don't... tell me... that it's not working... don't tell me... that I can't..."

"Three minutes to go."

O-O-O

The rockets were impossible to stop, so Robin, Starfire, and Terra had to try to get out of the way... while Robin and Terra leapt to the side, Starfire took to the air, gasping in horror as all seven rockets turned upward to follow her.

"Starfire, try to lead them into Sedaris!" shouted Robin.

"Fool, they'll never hit me, even if she flew right at me and dodged at the last moment," said Sedaris, turning his mech toward Beast Boy and Cyborg. "And I think I've let the two of you off the hook just a little too long."

Beast Boy stood up, transforming into a bear and rising up on two legs, lunging at Sedaris' mech only to be swatted casually away with one swing of Trinity Omega's powerful right arm.

As Trinity Omega loomed over Cyborg, Starfire flew frantically through the air, trying any way that she could to lose the rockets that were pursuing her.

"_I am glad that I got them away from Robin and Terra, but... I certainly do not wish to be blown to bits!" _thought Starfire, blasting her eye lasers at the rockets, only to have them swoop upward or to the side to get out of the lasers' path, then resume their usual course, with Starfire barely able to keep ahead of them. _"I will soon tire of this, and then the rockets will catch up to me..."_

Realizing that Starfire's only hope lay in the rockets being destroyed, Robin ran directly under them, throwing a bomb into the air that expanded into a large chunk of ice. The rockets swerved around the ice, and one of them diverted from its chase of Starfire to give its attention to Robin instead. It flew directly at him, and the Boy Wonder was completely unprepared to stop it.

"ROBIN, LOOK OUT!" Starfire flew at Robin to push him out of the rocket's path, knocking him away only to be hit herself, right in the side. As the first of the rockets exploded, the other six locked in on her as well, adding to the explosion and throwing up a huge fireball that knocked Robin back into the wall and even managed to singe Trinity Omega's armor. The mighty mech stumbled backward, its occupant smiling as Starfire disappeared into the flames.

"Starfire... STARFIRE, NO!"

Ignoring his pain, Robin stood up and charged Trinity Omega, his bo staff furiously impacting its surface. Sedaris chuckled as the staff slammed harmlessly into the mech's metal frame, but after several hits to the window managed to make a large, ugly crack, Sedaris finally decided to take evasive action. The mech clenched its fists and punched twice at Robin, only to have the Boy Wonder leap into the air and strike with a kick aimed right at the crack in the mech's window. The sound of shattering tempered glass accompanied the sight of Trinity Omega being flung backwards several yards, hitting the ground hard on its back and skidding a yard or two more before coming to a stop against the back wall of the room, smoke beginning to rise from its damaged frame.

Robin landed on one knee, staring down the fallen mech and breathing heavily, his eyes narrowed into slits.

"I'm not through with you yet," said the furious Boy Wonder, charging at the robot just as it was beginning to stand. He leapt down between the robot's legs and rained blow after blow on its chest, until more sparks and smoke emerged from its heavily dented chest plating. Inside, Sedaris, bloodied and bruised and covered with broken glass, managed to raise one of Trinity Omega's arms to swat Robin away, knocking him to the ground and giving the mech a chance to rise.

"Unnnh... am I...?"

Starfire had been hit by the rockets... but yet she felt nothing but a few slight burns... and could see someone standing in front of her... someone she never expected to see.

"Cyborg?"

The sound of Starfire's voice diverted Robin's attention away from Trinity Omega and toward the center of the room. There, he saw someone that he never thought he'd see standing again... behind someone who wasn't supposed to be standing for at least a few more minutes.

"Cyborg...?"

Robin's utterance of his fellow Titan's name was even twice as surprised as Starfire's had been, and his surprise only intensified when he saw his friend standing completely unharmed, though he'd apparently just shielded Starfire from a blast almost surely powerful enough to destroy her.

"You were right... this anti-rocket laser cannon upgrade was a good investment after all..." said Cyborg, a wide grin on his face. "Took a whole day to install the thing, but I guess it ended up payin' for itself, huh?"

"Damned... deus ex machina... cheating bastards..."

Robin's happiness at seeing Starfire alive and Cyborg okay was suddenly converted back into anger, and he turned to see Sedaris' sparking mech standing behind him, its bleeding occupant furiously staring into the Boy Wonder's eyes.

"It's over, Sedaris," said Robin, as the five other Titans, bruised and battle-weary as they were, assembled behind their leader and prepared for a final assault. "Get out of the robot and surrender, _now_.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Sedaris coughed as he spoke, and blood could be seen trickling from the side of his mouth... his tanktop and jacket had been torn to shreds in the battle, and there were small shards of glass embedded in his body. His mech wasn't faring much better... Robin's bo staff had delivered critical damage to its power core, and the flames caused when its wings had exploded burned many of the wires inside the mech's computerized engine. "I told you once... I'll tell you again... I... never... surrender..."

Every one of the tiny screens built into the console of Trinity Omega was flashing red, displaying critical error messages and warning its occupant to immediately eject. As Sedaris attempted to make the mech move, its arms and legs began to spark, and instead of walking, the mech staggered as if it were a drunken man.

"I'll say it one more time... _it's over_. You lost," said Robin.

"You have been soundly defeated, and it would be in your best interests to surrender immediately," Starfire added, reaching over and taking Robin's hand.

"I bet you didn't even _build _that robot you're in," said Raven.

"Raven's right, you didn't make _any _of this! The platform, the quantum computers, the enhancements to the bunker, the robots you attacked us with... all that stuff was invented by the corporation leaders you aligned yourself with!" Cyborg's accurate assessment of Sedaris' methods didn't sit well with the bleeding madman at all, and he began attempting to trigger the mech's weapons, with little success.

"You're just some crazy musclehead who wanted to see what it would be like to make a big earthquake, and you stole a bunch of other people's technology to do it!" Beast Boy shouted.

"You're not just a psychopath... you're a thief," said Terra, her fists clenching in front of her. "And you're not even the best thief I know! The best thief I know is in that room, over there..."

Terra pointed to the control station, still sealed off by the large pile of rubble in front of the entrance.

"Trying to undo all the crazy stuff that _you _did! You're pathetic, Sedaris... absolutely pathetic.

Sedaris said nothing, continuing to try and activate the mech's controls, which were now completely unresponsive. More and more smoke began pouring from Trinity Omega, enough to surround the entire robot in a thick haze that drove all the Titans back.

"Sedaris, if you don't come out of there, you're going to die!" shouted Robin.

"No, you're going to die! You're ALL going to die! As soon as I activate my secret weapon, I'm going to blast you all into oblivion!"

Sedaris, his anger and fear completely overwhelming his mind, stayed inside Trinity Omega. Ejecting himself from the mech was the _last _thing in his mind, and he still believed that he could take down the Teen Titans, as long as he activated his 'secret weapon'... its identity even Sedaris himself was unable to determine, his psychosis most likely having placed the weapon in his mind.

"He... he is not going to attempt to escape, is he?" Starfire gave Robin a worried look, knowing exactly what was about to happen next.

Trinity Omega exploded in a huge column of white flames, blasting all six Titans back and instantly incinerating Sedaris, who let out a split-second scream as his life was extinguished.

But the Teen Titans did not come to stop Sedaris... they came to stop the disaster that he intended to create. They immediately rushed over to the rubble pile in front of the control station, hoping desperately that Red X had stopped the disaster in time.

O-O-O

"Thirty seconds to go. Thirty seconds until earthquake sequence is triggered."

"C'mon... DAMMIT!"

The thief's entire body was engulfed in red electricity, electricity that coursed along the top of the console in front of him as he tried desperately to break into Sedaris' system. The error messages had stopped, replaced now by footage of the skylines of San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, San Diego, Los Angeles... and Jump City, hometown of the Titans, of Red X, and of Red X's mother and sister, Maria and Maddalena Salazar.

"Twenty seconds to go."

The thief collapsed to his knees, his eyes closing as tears began forming in them, not just from the knowledge that he was about to lose his mother and sister, but from the intense pain now searing his body, his suit having interfaced completely with the system. All he could see was bright red, feeling not the shock of electricity, but pain as if he was running against a brick wall, over and over again.

"_Respond... respond..."_

"Fifteen seconds to go."

The power core and reactor of the Red X suit began pulsating with energy, as the thief devoted every bit of the suit's power into breaking through to Sedaris' system. He didn't care if the suit was rendered completely useless... if his body was completely torn apart... all he knew was that millions of lives depended on him stopping the earthquake.

"Ten seconds to go."

Electricity now filled the room, and Red X let out a loud scream, his eyes clenching tightly shut and his hands pressing against the console as firmly as they could.

"Five seconds. Four. Three. Two."

"MADDY!"

"One second."

Like a glass window being shattered to pieces, the red fell away from the thief's eyes, and he could see the screens, the skylines of all six cities displayed in brilliant clarity.

For a moment, Red X could feel his heart stop.

"Critical System Malfunction. The system is unable to carry out the request as programmed."

The same message displayed on all six screens, small white letters against a blue background. Red X lifted his hands from the console and stood up, his entire body tingling.

Before he realized what he had just done, a flash of green light blasted away the rubble in front of the entrance, and Starfire, followed by Robin and the others, stepped into the room. They looked up at the screens and realized immediately what had happened.

Red X had just saved the entire Pacific Rim.

"You... you did it..." Starfire's voice was a mixture of happiness, surprise, and exhaustion, and Red X, equally exhausted, took several seconds before he began to speak, wanting his voice to maintain the calm, collected tone that he was known for.

"I told you... I don't like playing the hero."

"That wasn't playing," said Robin, looking directly into Red X's eyes. "You just saved the lives of a hundred million people."

It was far too much for Red X, who collapsed to his knees, briefly staring out into space before reaching up and removing his mask. He looked up at the six Titans, unable to form a single word... and a tear emerged from each of his eyes, slipping down the sides of his cheeks and framing his face.

"_Mom... Maddy... I..."_

The smile on Sanza's face was unmistakably real.

O-O-O

The computer crash had disabled the forcefield guarding the quantum computers, enabling the Titans to destroy them easily, as well as using the oil platform's manual controls to pull the drill up out of the ground. They, along with Red X, were now back at Titans Tower... though Red X had neglected to put his mask back on after removing it at the control station, instead deciding to return to the Tower as Sanza.

"Yeah... it's a school night, I know, I'll get home as soon as I can... it's over now, don't worry... bye."

As Sanza set down the phone, Beast Boy glanced over at him from the couch, a smirk on his face.

"The greatest thief in Jump City has to check in with his mom... you have no idea how hilarious that is."

Sanza glared over at Beast Boy, planning to say something else, before a hand gently landed on his shoulder. He turned to see Robin, standing behind him and holding something in his hand.

"Sanza... what you did today was one of the most heroic things I've ever seen anyone do. I'd be honored if you would-"

"Robin, I already told you. I don't want to be a Teen Titan. _Ever. _Not just because I'm a thief, but because if I became a Teen Titan, I'd have to take orders from you, and... I hate taking orders. From anyone."

Sanza turned away from Robin, placing his mask back over his face.

"Besides... you're the real heroes. You took out Sedaris and his anime reject bot... I pussed out on the whole fight and went to play on the computer. You deserve all the glory... all I did was make a computer crash. Every nerd in my school has done that."

As Red X walked out of the room, Starfire and Terra both noticed that he was headed toward the elevator.

"Are you... going to go home, or-"

"I need to think," said Red X, interrupting Starfire before she could strike up what was probably going to be a long, heartfelt conversation. "I'm going up to the roof."

The thief disappeared behind the closed elevator door, leaving Starfire to wonder exactly what he was going to think about... but in her heart, she knew.

"_He... he no longer wishes to be a thief! I knew that being a hero with us would change his mind... even if he does not wish to join the Titans, I am glad that he has finally come to his senses..."_

O-O-O

Red X stared out at the skyline of Jump City, briefly imagining what it would be like had the earthquake been allowed to take place... every building completely collapsed, the city rapidly washing out to sea...

"_And mom and Maddy both dead..." _

Had he _really _been thinking of the people of the city? Not just of Jump City, but of all the cities along the West Coast and the Pacific Rim that stood to be destroyed by the massive earthquake and tsunami that Sedaris wished to cause?

Or had he been thinking of Maddy and his mother... essentially, had he been thinking of himself?

The door to the rooftop opened, but Red X didn't turn to see who it was... he could guess by the sound of their voice, coming closer and closer to him.

"Sanza?"

Red X reached up and once again lifted the mask from his face, setting it down beside him and waiting until Terra was right behind him to begin to speak.

"I am now..."

The blonde geomancer sat down beside Sanza, who turned to look into her eyes... her wide, beautiful blue eyes, perfectly positioned above her smiling lips.

"So... what did you come up here to think about?"

"...just... what I should be... or what I already am."

"You mean a thief?"

"Robin seems to think I'm a hero... along with all the other Titans."

"By the way... earlier, when you said... when you said you didn't care what the Titans thought about you..." Sanza raised an eyebrow, and Terra could instantly tell what he meant by 'the Titans'. "You... you don't consider me a Titan?"

"Well... I never fought you, so... you're different from the rest of them. You-"

"You care what I think of you?"

Sanza couldn't speak, and a trickle of sweat began to run down his face. He struggled to find the words, but again, Terra already knew what he really meant. She giggled, and a smile briefly formed on Sanza's lips.

"Look, what I said... what I said about you... your life's been way rougher than mine, so you can take everything I've said about what you should do with a grain of salt," said Sanza, showing uncharacteristic honesty. Terra giggled again, then shook her head.

"Out of all the Titans, out of all the people I've met... you're the one I can identify with most..." Terra bowed her head, briefly thinking of all the wonderful things that Beast Boy had said and done for her... he was fun, and she loved him dearly, but... "...I don't feel nearly as comfortable talking with anyone else as I do with you... not even Beast Boy."

"That... that's nice of you to say, but..."

"Sanza..." Terra's hands reached over and gripped Sanza's, his gloves warming her cold hands, "Thank you... thank you for everything... you've given me so much strength and confidence since I was revived, and I just..."

The two were now leaning in toward one another, their eyes beginning to close.

"Terra..." whispered Sanza, just before their lips met, and the two exchanged a kiss that lasted for several seconds, a kiss that, for a brief instant, brought to Sanza the most wonderful feeling that he'd ever had... and brought to Terra comfort that she'd never known. The two slowly pulled away from one another, and Terra stood up, looking at Sanza as she walked back toward the roof entrance.

"Thank you so much..."

And with that, Terra was gone, leaving Sanza alone on the roof with his thoughts. He reached down and picked up his mask, putting it back over his face and staring up to the stars, thinking of all the chaos of the past week and a half, and how, even though he'd had moments of happiness, anger, and despair... very little had changed.

"_What God wants... what the Titans want... all that matters is what I want."_

When Red X wanted to be a thief, he would be a thief. When he wanted to be a hero, he would be a hero.

"_That's why I took the suit in the first place... to get what I want."_

Red X wasn't a hero... and Red X wasn't a thief. He was merely Red X... and that was everything that he ever wanted to be.

**THE END**


End file.
